


Starforce Stories

by MCU_Forever



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Humor, Kree Starforce, One-Shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCU_Forever/pseuds/MCU_Forever
Summary: One-shots about the various adventures of Starforce, both on and off the battlefield.Minn-Erva and Vers are constantly giving each other death looks, Bron-Char won't stop acting like an old fogey, Att-Lass tries to make Korath do anything - literally ANYTHING that isn't boring, and Yon-Rogg is just trying to put up with it all...
Relationships: (a little bit because I had to), Carol Danvers/Yon-Rogg, Yon-Rogg & Carol Danvers & Minn-Erva & Att-Lass & Bron-Char & Korath
Comments: 24
Kudos: 15





	1. Tardy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An emergency briefing is being held, but when several members of Starforce are tardy, Vers is sent to find out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I know not many of you are familiar with my work, but I'm back with more!! These stories are all about Starforce and the crazy day-to-day happenings of their lives. Also I just had to throw in a little Yonvers content because I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for them...  
> Anyway, ON TO THE STORIES! Please don't hesitate to comment or leave kudos; that stuff is super encouraging for me!

One Hala Day, Vers was wakened by the loud annoying beep of her comm. She shot upright in her bed and grabbed it and turned it on. It was Yon-Rogg.

“Vers, there’s some—hey, did you just wake up or something?” he asked.

“Yes, why?” she asked with a frown.

“You’ve got some tangles just there,” he replied, motioning to her whole head. 

“Ugggh,” she replied and grabbed her brush to comb it out while they talked. “So why did you call me so early?”

“There’s been some developments with our upcoming mission and I wanted to brief the team about it as soon as possible,” he explained.

“Are you saying that you, like, got notified about it at 4 in the morning and then decided that everyone had to know IMMEDIATELY??” she exclaimed.

“Uh, yes. Yes I did. Now get dressed and get over here. And you might want to double check that Att-Lass gets out of bed because…you know how he is,” Yon-Rogg finished and the communication ended.

“Oi,” said Vers. She jumped out of bed and zipped into her uniform in two seconds, then headed out the door. On her way across the street she almost got hit by a taxi because she started sleepwalking. “HEY I’M SLEEPWALKING HERE!!” she shouted.  
When she got to the Helion, which was where her Starforce team always met and commonly hung out, the only people she found there were Yon-Rogg and Korath. They both looked like they had already been awake for half a day. 

“Why do you guys look like you’ve already been awake for half a day?” she asked.

“Because as members of Starforce, we train ourselves to be diligent and ready for anything, including wake-up calls that come early,” Yon-Rogg said.

“I was watching a sitcom,” said Korath. 

Yon-Rogg shot him a dirty look. Then he said to Vers, “Where’s everyone else?”

“I dunno,” she answered as she began to nod off.

“I told you to check on Att-Lass! Ugh, fine, I’ll just do it now,” said Yon-Rogg. 

Vers smiled innocently at him, but she could tell he wasn’t really mad so she didn’t need to make up a dumb excuse.

After a few seconds and several slaps to the communicator, Yon-Rogg said, “None of them are answering.”

“Huh…maybe they’re all stone cold dead asleep like I was,” said Vers, who was now holding an ice pack to her neck to keep herself awake.

“I doubt Minn-Erva or Bron-Char would miss their comm. They’re always alert,” said Yon-Rogg, giving Vers a meaningful glance.

“Hey,” she said. “I’m alert!” Then she walked two steps and tripped over a pistol that Att-Lass had probably left lying around. It went off and the blast went in between Yon-Rogg’s feet and hit the box of snacks Korath had set on the floor (which he probably brought with him from his sitcom time). Hala popcorn flew all over the room and the burned smell of it wafted everywhere. 

Yon-Rogg looked at Vers as a piece of it settled like snow in his hair. “Go find them,” he said and pointed out the main hatch of the ship.

“Hehe,” she replied nervously. “Ehhh…yes, Commander.” She saluted and scurried out. She briefly wondered if they would eat all those floating popcorns while she wasn’t there. She supposed she’d find out.

As she walked across the bay, she opened her comm and contacted Att-Lass. No answer. Then she contacted Bron-Char: no answer. She sighed, having saved the worst for last: Minn-Erva. When she called, she was surprised when Minn-Erva actually picked up, and her glowing blue image appeared over Vers’s wrist.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT??” she yelled.

“Whoa, hey, relax!! I’m the one who should be yelling at you! So I will! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?? WHY DIDN’T YOU REPORT TO THE HELION?!?” Vers shouted. She noticed a few technicians give her weird looks from across the bay. She stuck her tongue out at them.

“Report to the Helion? What are you talking about?” Minn-Erva asked.

Vers looked at nobody stupidly. “You can’t tell me that you missed all of Yon-Rogg’s messages. He called all of us and told us to report in for a mission briefing. And he said you were alert!”

“What? He said that?” Minn-Erva asked, sounding surprised.

Vers rolled her eyes. Minn-Erva was constantly trying to one-up her when it came to their Starforce duties, since it was widely known that Yon-Rogg favored Vers the most. So she was glad to hear any praise from him.

“Yes, he did, but I doubt he will anymore now that he’s got wind of your tardiness. And speaking of tardiness, why ARE you so late? Did you actually not wake up? And where’s the other two? You can’t tell me that all THREE of you sleep like rocks,” Vers said.

“Oh…brother…” Minn-Erva said slowly.

“What?? What is it?” Vers asked. Minn-Erva sounded really guilty so naturally, she had to pry.

“Nothing. I’ll get the other two and we’ll be there in a few,” Minn-Erva said and ended the communication.

“Hmph,” Vers hmphed. “I think I’m gonna go find out what they’re up to.”  
She ran out of the bay and onto the street. Then she remembered her earlier experience with the taxi and decided to backtrack to the sidewalk. As she waited for ten billion buses to go by, she thought about some things. ‘Minn-Erva looked like she was in her pajamas,’ she thought. ‘So I’d be willing to bet she’s at her apartment.’  
After waiting for some parade procession for a new restaurant, Vers bolted across the street and bolted across the sidewalks and bolted up some stairs until she got to Minn-Erva’s apartment. She proceeded to bust down the door, still with some chicken samples in her mouth, and shout, “WHAT’S GOING--”

But she stopped, because what she saw was rather uncanny. 

The TV was on, showing a paused sitcom. There were blankets strewn about the floor along with a bunch of snacks. Minn-Erva, Att-Lass, and Bron-Char were all standing there frozen, appearing to have been in the act of cleaning up. 

Vers blinked. A piece of chicken fell out of her mouth. “Are…are you guys having a TV party? Without me?” she asked.

“Good gracious, Vers! You gave us a fright! And no, this is not what it looks like!” said Bron-Char.

“It looks like a TV party,” said Vers. “And that’s what it is.”

“Look, Vers, we were just getting together to watch the new season of Everybody Loves Ronan. You can’t blame us! It’s really interesting!” said Att-Lass. 

Vers figured that that was what Korath had been watching too. It seemed as though she and Yon-Rogg were the only ones who weren’t interested in it. “Yeah, well, sorry but you picked the wrong morning to do it. Yon-Rogg is going to have your butts for not showing up to his briefing, which has already been delayed by a considerable amount,” Vers said. “And he’ll probably rag on you more for watching that show specifically. You know how he is about Ronan!”

Minn-Erva grumbled. “We only missed the Commander’s calls because we turned our comms off so they wouldn’t bother us,” she explained. “Hopefully he understands. And by the way, note that I called him the _Commander_ , because I actually respect him.”

Vers gave her a death glare. “How dare you accuse me of being unprofessional,” she said. Then she stuck her tongue out. 

Minn-Erva face-palmed. “Whatever. Let’s just tidy up and get out of here. Att-Lass, Bron-Char, get your uniforms. And Vers, if you breathe a word of this to the Commander--” 

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t tell him you were wasting precious hours of sleep watching a sitcom! Definitely won’t,” Vers replied.

Minn-Erva narrowed her eyes. Vers narrowed _her_ eyes.

Then Att-Lass choked on a piece of popcorn that he decided to sneak, Bron-Char gave him the Heimlich maneuver, and he spat it with the force of a bullet into Minn-Erva’s hair.

“AAHHH!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?” shrieked Minn-Erva. 

As she stalked over to throttle Att-Lass and Bron-Char, Vers casually whistled and slipped out the doorframe. (Which had no door, because she had busted it down.)  
When she got back to the Helion, she found Yon-Rogg and Korath playing chess.

Yon-Rogg made a move and said, “Checkmate.”

Korath said, “What the…”  
Then, “urgh.”

“I see nothing much has happened _here_ ,” Vers said dryly. But she noted that there was no more burnt popcorn anywhere, except for the one in Yon-Rogg’s hair. He must not have noticed it, and Korath was probably too terrified to tell him about it.

Yon-Rogg looked at her. “Why were you eating chicken?” he asked.

She blinked. “How can you possibly know I was eating chicken?!” 

“I just…can,” he said, and then smiled like he knew something she didn’t. 

She blinked more. Just then, Minn-Erva, Bron-Char, and Att-Lass came rushing in.

‘Saved by the noobs,’ she thought.

“Sorry for our tardiness, Commander!! We’re ready for the briefing,” said Att-Lass, panting. He was carrying a bag.

Yon-Rogg stood up and his chair made an appropriately scary _scooooot_ sound. He crossed his arms. “I should have your--”

Just then Korath, who had also gotten up, tripped over the pistol that Vers had tripped over earlier. It went off, and the blast ricocheted off the wall, ceiling, and chessboard until it hit Att-Lass’s bag. Snacks exploded out of it and delicious burnt smells wafted everywhere. 

Vers watched as another piece of it settled like snow in Yon-Rogg’s hair. It was then that her resolve snapped and she stalked over to him and grabbed the snacks off his head and ate them.

“Mmm,” she said.

Yon-Rogg gave her a weird look. Then he said, “DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY!!”

Everyone grumbled as they got to the floor.

“Not you, Vers and Korath, you’re exempt from it if you want,” said Yon-Rogg.

“Ha,” Vers said and jumped back up to watch Minn-Erva struggle. (But she didn’t really.)

THE END!


	2. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starforce has to participate in a family-bonding activity together.  
> :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have read the book Starforce on the Rise, there's a little reference to it in this story that you can keep an eye out for ;)

One Hala Day, Vers was heading to the Helion to see what shenanigans Starforce was getting up to. As she approached the open hatch of the ship, she heard some loud arguing and saw stuff flying around inside. So a typical day then.

“Hey, what’s going on now?” she asked, stepping inside.

“Oh, we’re just having a disagreement about the plans, for tonight, or whatever,” Att-Lass grumbled. He and Bron-Char looked annoyed at each other. “I’ll let the Commander explain.”

A door opened as if on cue and Yon-Rogg walked in from his fancy commander’s quarters. “Vers, you’re here. Good. I presume you’ve been informed about tonight’s activities?”

“Uh…no,” she replied, “but judging from Att-Lass and Bron-Char’s attitudes, it’s probably not too great, huh?”

He tilted his head. “Oh, them? They’re just arguing about whether to have cake or pie for dessert. We’re all teaming up to cook dinner tonight.”

She stared at him for a second, then grabbed a cup of water that happened to be sitting on the briefing holo-table, took a sip, and spat it out. Att-Lass got misted.  
“What?!” she shouted.

Yon-Rogg sighed. “Vers, you heard me. We’re all going to have a communal dinner tonight, in order to get some time as a team off the battlefield. I don’t know why you’re all so against it. The Supreme Intelligence thinks it’s a good idea…”

“Oh, good grief. The Supreme Intelligence wants us to make dinner together? What has this world come to?” she looked at Bron-Char, but he was busy reading some old book by the ancient scholars of Hala. “I don’t think it’s seen what can happen when we’re left alone to deal with each other. We’re probably going to end up blowing up the Helion.”

Yon-Rogg chuckled. “Don’t worry, Vers, I’ll be there to chaperone you. I’ll even help, in fact.”

“Really, Commander, there’s no need,” said Minn-Erva, walking in holding her rifle as if she might need it to threaten somebody. “I’m sure we can handle dinner.”

Vers rolled her eyes. “We all think you’re really impressive, Minn-Erva, but no, we CANNOT handle dinner. Are you kidding me? Korath will probably eat everything before we can use it, and Bron-Char will probably try to make some old-timey battlefield bread out of flour and water.”

“Hey, flour and water make some good sustenance!” exclaimed Bron-Char, closing his book. Vers noticed that the cover said, _How to Survive the Battlefield with Flour and Water_. “I’m sure we can make a fine cake!”

“No, a pie would be better,” said Att-Lass.

“And I don’t eat things,” said Korath, as he munched on popcorn.

Vers pinched the bridge of her nose.

Yon-Rogg clapped a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Don’t fret, Vers, there’s an easy solution to all of this. Minn-Erva and Bron-Char can prepare the main course, Korath can mix us up a fruit punch, Att-Lass will handle the side dish, and you and I can make a pie.”

Everyone okayed the plan, except Minn-Erva scowled at the last part.

“Alright, everyone, to the kitchen!!” proclaimed Bron-Char. “I’m thinking…seaweed casserole with mushrooms!”

“ **NO!!** ” shouted everyone.

“Fine, fine, it was just a suggestion…” Bron-Char mumbled.

Once they had all piled into the Helion’s small kitchen, they each set about making their assigned part of the dinner. While Minn-Erva and Bron-Char argued about the main dish, Att-Lass decided to whip up a salad. He grabbed some lettuce and began shredding it into a bowl. Next to him, Korath was blending fruit into punch. 

“Don’t you think you should add something healthy to that?” asked Att-Lass.

“No,” answered Korath. 

“But we’re encouraged to keep up a healthy lifestyle, and that includes our diet,” said Att-Lass.

“Not today we’re not,” replied Korath.

“Just because we’re eating dinner together doesn’t mean it has to be super indulgent,” Att-Lass said. 

“Yes it does,” said Korath.

“Oi,” said Att-Lass. Then he ripped a leaf off his cabbage super hard, so that most of it went flying conveniently into Korath’s blender. “Oops,” he said.

Korath stopped the blender and turned toward Att-Lass with a murderous look in his cold blue eyes. “You…put…celery…in my punch.”

“Uh actually it’s lett--”

Korath went to strangle him but just at that moment Bron-Char cut between them. “Do you young folk have any vegetables?” he asked.

“Oh, uh, yes, they’re right here,” said Korath, handing Bron-Char a bagful. 

“Thanks, boys,” he said. “Keep up the teamwork!”

Vers, who had secretly been watching the whole exchange, snickered a little and then turned back to her work. She had been mixing up eggs and whatnot to make the crust for their pie. Yon-Rogg was next to her, neatly dicing up some fruit for the filling. 

“You forgot the flour,” he said, glancing over.

“Hm? No I didn’t, it’s right here,” she said, motioning to a pile of white granules in the corner of the bowl.

“Vers, that’s sugar,” he said.

She looked at it. “Oh.”

He sighed. “Well, it’s going to be a much sweeter pie than anticipated, but it still needs flour. I think it’s under the counter.”

“Alright!” she grabbed out the flour bag, which was the size of an ottoman and weighed two tons. “Who bought the army-size portion?”

“I did. I thought we would make many cakes,” said Korath.

“Hm,” replied Vers. She dumped the huge thing on the counter. It had one tiny hole in the corner, so she used that to pour some out into a measuring cup. Just as she was finishing, Att-Lass came over to dump some stuff in the garbage disposal and bumped into her. The flour from her cup poofed into the air, making a white cloud. Vers watched as some of it settled like snow on Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“Hey, twinklefists, do us all a favor and don’t be a klutz,” Minn-Erva said as she chopped up some vegetables.

“Shut up, Minn, nobody asked you!!” yelled Vers.

“Don’t call me _Minn_!” shouted Minn-Erva.

“Guys, cool it!” interjected Att-Lass.

“Vers, watch the language,” said Yon-Rogg.

“I’m hungry,” said Korath.

Minn-Erva and Vers traded death glares and then got back to work. Vers hastily dusted off Yon-Rogg’s hair with a towel. Luckily he seemed amused.

Meanwhile, Bron-Char was grating some cheese.

“No, no! You’re going backwards,” Minn-Erva said, flipping his grater around.

“Well don’t blame me, I’m not used to these new-fangled gadgets,” said Bron-Char.

“Good grief,” said Minn-Erva. She dumped her vegetables into a pan and waited for Bron-Char to finish. She waited. And waited. Annnnnnnd waited. Finally…

“That’s it! Let me do that!” she grabbed the cheese from Bron-Char. “Go heat up the oven, would you?”

“Ah, sure. Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. He went and booped some buttons. “Done.”

“Good,” said Minn-Erva, who had already finished with the cheese, dumped it on the casserole, added some seasonings, and cleaned up their workspace. “Let’s put it in.”

So once that was finished, they noticed that everyone else was done. They headed back into the cockpit/headquarters (which Vers liked to call the “living room”) and saw that Att-Lass had draped a tablecloth over the briefing holo-table. Korath was setting out little cups of fruit punch that had lettuce bits floating in it. Att-Lass set out some salads.

“Hey Vers, do you want vinaigrette or lemon?” asked Att-Lass.

“Those are the only two options? GROSS!” Vers replied.

“Vers, those are the only _healthy_ options. It’s necessary to keep up a healthy lifestyle and diet if you want to be the best version of yourself. But yeah, they’re also the only options because I don’t allow Korath to get anything else,” said Yon-Rogg.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Whatever. Gimme the vinaigrette.”

When Yon-Rogg left to check on the casserole, Minn-Erva said, “I can’t believe he lets you get away with sticking your tongue out. It’s a seriously bad habit. And also unprofessional.”

“What? Unprofessional? Me?” Vers laughed as she flopped down in a chair and kicked up her feet on the table.

“Collective, take me now,” Minn-Erva sighed.

Right then, Yon-Rogg walked in holding a steaming casserole. It was mostly charred black on top.

“What the--? What happened!?” exclaimed Minn-Erva.

“Well, I’m pretty sure the oven was set to 1560 degrees. That might have had something to do with it,” replied Yon-Rogg, setting it on the table. “If it had stayed in there any longer the Helion might’ve blown up.”

“Hey! I told you!” said Vers.

Minn-Erva fumed. “Bron-Char.”

Bron-Char didn’t seem to notice the situation though because he was busy reading a book titled, _How to Use a Kree Oven_.

Just then Vers pulled a pie out of nowhere and said, “I think the pie is cool now.”

“Good, just set it aside for now,” said Yon-Rogg.

Vers stuffed it in her weapons locker.

“Hey, how did you bake that pie without the oven?” Minn-Erva asked.

“Oh, we just used the fancy futuristic Kree microwave,” she said.

Minn-Erva looked at Bron-Char stupidly. “I don’t believe it. Bron-Char has been around for like a million years, but Vers has only been around for a few and still can use technology better than him?”

“Hey, there is a reason I prefer to use my fists in battle,” Bron-Char said with a shrug.

“Hey, if you’re so old, how are you so strong?” asked Att-Lass.

“Classified,” answered Bron-Char.

“Okay team, I think it’s about time we settled down for dinner,” interrupted Yon-Rogg.

“Finally!!” yelled Vers. Then she remembered that the dinner (excepting the pie) had been prepared by noobs. “Oh… I mean, great. I am so excited to eat a dinner that has been prepared by noobs.”

“What does ‘noob’ mean?” asked Korath.

Vers ignored him. 

Yon-Rogg served them all some casserole. After praying, they began to stuff their faces.

“Well, this casserole may be burned on top, but it actually isn’t bad underneath,” said Att-Lass with his mouth full.

“I think we could’ve put more water in it. Maybe flour too,” said Bron-Char.

“There is water in the punch,” said Korath. “The natural water from the fruit.”

“Well, that’s not entirely as effective as just adding water,” said Yon-Rogg. “But I did notice that you put some lettuce in there, Korath. That was a healthy choice!”

Att-Lass looked at Korath and smiled obnoxiously. Korath just stared at him and then went back to eating his salad.

After they had finished and the dishes were cleared away, Vers brought out the pie from her locker. “Time for dessert!! And you can actually trust that this pie is good. It was made by professionals.”

“There may have been at least _one_ professional involved, but that doesn’t change the fact that you kept it in your locker for the whole meal. It probably tastes like dirty socks now,” said Minn-Erva.

“I’m sure it doesn’t, Minn-Erva. Vers doesn’t keep socks in her locker,” said Yon-Rogg. Then he gave Vers a look that said, _You don’t keep socks in your locker, do you?_

Vers just smiled as she set down the pie. She served everyone a piece, and everybody admitted that the pie was the best part of the meal. Minn-Erva couldn’t even find a hair in it to prove that Vers had messed it up.

THE END!


	3. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Att-Lass's birthday!! But will he actually be able to have a normal celebration? :/

One Hala Day, Vers walked into the Helion and saw something that made her stop in her tracks. Her heart shattered into a billion teeny pieces. 

For all her snacks that she had hidden in her locker were now strewn out on the briefing holo-table! 

“My snacks! WHyyy??” she yelled. “Who did this? WHO GETS THE FIST?!” she raised her arm and let it glow blindingly white.

Korath, who was standing there, shielded his eyes. “Relax. We had need of the snacks for today.”

“In case you don’t know, which I’m sure you don’t because you’re too lazy to mark a date on your calendar, today is Att-Lass’s birthday,” said Minn-Erva, walking in. “We needed some junky food for our little celebration and you just happened to have some. Don’t worry, you’ll be compensated for it, commander’s orders. Though in MY opinion, an official member of Starforce shouldn’t even have a stash of snacks. It’s undignified and unprofessional.”

“Wow, thanks for the little speech,” Vers replied, who had been scrolling around on her wrist-display looking for memes. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but I AM dignified and professional.” She walked over to the new snack table and tossed a piece of popcorn into the air. She missed it with her mouth and it landed on the floor.

Minn-Erva sighed. Then she checked the time. “Att-Lass was given permission to sleep in today. He’ll probably be reporting in within the next 15 minutes, so let’s make sure everything is ready.”

“What exactly is ‘everything’?” Vers asked. She had already powered through half the popcorn.

“We made him a cake,” said Korath.

“And this commemorative party hat,” added Bron-Char, walking in. He held up a cardboard-looking hat that had been cut up and painted to look like the Starforce star. 

“Well, that’s - how do I put this nicely - terrible,” said Vers.

Just then Yon-Rogg came in. “Come on now Vers, Bron-Char worked hard on that. Didn’t he?”

Bron-Char nodded and then sniffed. “I thought it was good…”

“Come on Bron-Char, it’s fine. Vers just doesn’t realize how she makes other people **FEEL** ,” said Minn-Erva, and led Bron-Char out of the room after giving Vers a death glare.

“Hm, I can’t help but feel like Minn-Erva was trying to get at something there…” Vers said.

Yon-Rogg looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” she said. “I didn’t do anything.”

“If I may say,” said Korath, “these crackers are very good.”

“Hey, quit eating my snacks!” Vers yelled, grabbing the box away. After stuffing a handful in her own mouth, she said, “How did you guys even know I had a stash?”

Korath looked at Yon-Rogg, who cleared his throat and looked around a little bit.

“SERIOUSLY YON-ROGG!?!? YOU BETRAYED ME?!” Vers shouted. 

“What?! I ordered Korath to buy you more,” he defended.

“I hope you haven’t always been stealing my snacks,” she said mock-threateningly. “What occasion did you have to be in my locker anyway?”

“Uh…” he began.

Just then Att-Lass walked in. 

Minn-Erva and Bron-Char busted in. A poof of silver confetti exploded into the air. Korath produced a cake from behind his back. Everyone shouted, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATT-LASS!!”

“What in the $%&$&!!” shouted Att-Lass.

“Woaahhh dude!” shouted everyone.

“Uh, sorry, I just wasn’t expecting this,” said Att-Lass. Bron-Char plopped some poorly-made cardboard hat on his head. “Uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, lad,” said Bron-Char.

“We’ve got snacks,” said Korath.

“And some special birthday cake,” added Minn-Erva.

“Happy birthday, bro. Don’t eat the popcorn,” said Vers.

“I’m glad to have you as my subordinate,” said Yon-Rogg.

Vers looked at him. “That sounded _very_ classy,” she said.

“Thank you. I practiced it,” he replied with a conspiratorial smile.

Korath cleared a space on the party table and set the cake down. It was two-layered and covered in green-and-black icing. A silver star was piped smack-dab on top.

“Wow. That’s a Starforce cake through-and-through,” said Vers, peeping at it. Then she ran to the kitchen and came back with several spindly candles. She stuck them unceremoniously into the cake.

“Vers!” shouted Minn-Erva, who had been photographing it. “You just ruined the general aesthetic.”

“Aesthetic schmaesthetic,” Vers replied. Then she laughed. “Ha. Try saying that ten times fast.”

Then she ignited her fist and sent a blast at the cake. 

That turned out (big surprise) to be a mistake. The heat lit up the candles, but also the entire cake. And then it exploded. Frosting splatted everywhere and everyone. The candles turned to ash, some of which lightly settled like snow on Yon-Rogg’s hair. Somehow no frosting had hit him though. Maybe it was his aura of superiority.

Everyone looked at Vers. Minn-Erva had the most horrified look on her face the galaxy had ever known. She pawed at her frosting-caked hair and then said, “You know? I’m not even going to bother.” She turned and tromped out.

To everyone else’s surprise, Att-Lass started laughing. He laughed long, hard, and loud, until popcorn juice came out of his nose. (Or maybe it was something else. I dunno.) He wiped his eyes. Some frosting came off. He licked it. “Mmm. I have to say, this has been quite the birthday surprise. Thank you everyone, especially Vers, for making it interesting.”

Vers relaxed a little bit. “Hehe, uh, you’re welcome.”

Bron-Char looked confused. Korath looked just as much like an emotionless rock as he always did, even with a pile of green frosting on his bald head. Yon-Rogg looked at the scene with an amused sparkle in his golden eyes. 

“Well, I suppose we can all enjoy the snacks now, with a side of frosting. Which is on ourselves,” said Att-Lass. 

So they all sat and ate and talked about boring things, while Vers tried to monitor their snack activity. Eventually Minn-Erva came back after showering, and was completely flabbergasted to find them all still covered in frosting. 

“I can’t believe this. Suddenly _everyone_ lets Twinklefists get away with outlandish stuff?” she asked.

Yon-Rogg turned to her. “Minn-Erva, sometimes the unexpected is what we need to broaden our horizons,” he said.

“…What?” she said, blinking.

“SKRULLS!!” shouted Att-Lass.

Everyone jumped up and drew their weapons, taking defensive stances. Just one big troop of frosting-covered Starforce members.

In the corner was a pile of scrolls.

“Oh sorry, I was just studying some ancient texts again,” said Bron-Char, scooping up the scrolls. “My bad.”

Everyone grumbled about the adrenaline rush which they didn’t need. “Why did you feel the need to shout it so loud that there was a pile of paper on the floor?” asked Vers.

Att-Lass tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I dunno,” he said. “Surprise?”

THE END!


	4. Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starforce is invited to a gala! But they'll have to contribute a little something to it...

One Hala Day, Vers woke up. She yawned and stretched and rolled around in her bed a little bit, then got up and turned on Hala News.

“Tonight, a special gala will be held in honor of the Supreme Intelligence’s 1000th birthday. The SI won’t really be present, but it’s the thought that counts!!” the reporter was saying.

Vers rolled her eyes. Then she poured herself a behemoth bowl of cereal and wolfed it down.

The reporter continued, “We hold a lot of galas, but this one will be especially special because we are going to have a feature presentation by a group of Starforce, led by Commander Yon-Rogg.”

Vers spit out all her cereal into the reporter’s face. “I’m sorry, _what?!_ ” 

“I said that Commander Yon-Rogg’s Starforce team will be putting on a show for tonight’s gala,” said the reporter. “Supposedly, they’ll be giving a PowerPoint presentation on the impact of the Supreme Intelligence over the years.”

Vers stared at the reporter. Her eye twitched. Then she guzzled the rest of her cereal, threw on her uniform, and ran the 200 miles to the docking bay where the Helion was, while eating some energy bars.

She busted in and found Korath and Yon-Rogg playing cards atop the briefing holo-table. 

Yon-Rogg put down a card and said, “Take ten.”  
Korath said, “What the…”   
Then, “urgh.”

“Look, I hate to interrupt…whatever this is, but HAVE YOU PEOPLE HEARD ABOUT TONIGHT?!” Vers screeched.

They book looked at her calmly and not as if she was yelling and waving around her glow hands.

“Oh, so you heard about the gala, Vers?” Yon-Rogg asked.

“Yeah I did,” she said. “I have many things to say, but first and foremost: it’s a _gala_ on _Hala._ That’s funny, hehe.”

Yon-Rogg and Korath gave her blank stares. 

“But they don’t even rhyme,” said Att-Lass, walking in.

“Nuh-uh! You can pronounce gala like Hala, it’s just less common,” Vers retorted.

“I didn’t know you were an English professor,” said Korath.

“Well…I am,” she said with a smile. Then she stuck her tongue out. 

Korath looked repulsed. Yon-Rogg just looked back to their game with a bemused smile.

“So anyway, how did this whole thing come to be? Why is OUR team putting on a PowerPoint presentation? Why can’t it just be one of us? Like Minn-Erva? Or more importantly, not me?” Vers asked.

“Slow down, Vers,” Yon-Rogg said, putting down a card. “The Supreme Intelligence got wind of its gala, and it asked me if my team could do something. You have to understand it’s not in my best interests to refuse the Supreme Intelligence, so I accepted. It’s not like I really want to.”

Vers blinked. “So, first of all, the Supreme Intelligence bullied you into this? Second of all, you basically lied to it when you said you wanted to do it?”

“Now, now, Vers, I wasn’t lying,” he said. “I was respectfully pushing my true feelings about the matter away from the forefront.”

She busted out laughing. “That’s a really good excuse. I’ll have to use that sometime!”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure, Vers. Also, the Supreme Intelligence doesn’t… _bully_ me. It certainly doesn't.”

She stared at him. “If you say so.” Then she fished some popcorn out of her locker and chomped on it.

Minn-Erva walked in just then. “You know, Twinklefists, I’m guessing you’ve already had a ginormous bowl of cereal and two energy bars. Ever consider it might be better to save your appetite for tonight? There’s always a buffet table at Hala galas. Plus, eating so much makes you fat.”

“Haha! She said it! _Hala galas!_ ” Vers laughed. Some popcorn fell out of her mouth. She caught it and consciously put it back in the bag.

Minn-Erva raised her eyebrows and then went to pointlessly check on her rifle collection.

“Don’t worry, Vers, you aren’t fat,” Yon-Rogg said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not really worried about it,” she said, popping the top on a soda and slurping it.

“I don’t know, maybe you should be if you can drink half a soda in one sip,” he replied, observing her drinking tactics.

“Hey!” she complained.

Just then Bron-Char lumbered in. “Okay everyone, I’ve started work on our presentation. I’m thinking we’ll open with the creation of the Supreme Intelligence, cover everyone who has ever contributed to it, its fundamental teachings, how they’ve developed throughout the years--”

“Woah, woah. I’ll stop you right there,” said Vers. “That sounds really boring. Who says all the boring Kree nobility are going to enjoy that?”

Everyone could practically hear Minn-Erva roll her eyes.

“Well, Vers, that stuff _is_ pretty much what we’re supposed to talk about,” said Att-Lass. “Sometimes boring is necessary, I guess.”

“Yeah, but this is my first Hala gala and that means it has be awesome. I think we should play music and insert some memes.”

“Vers,” interjected Yon-Rogg, “As much as I want you to have a good time, I don’t think those things would go over well with the more professional Kree that will be attending.”

“So? I think it’s overdue for the old folks to get with the times,” Vers replied. Turning to Minn-Erva, she said, “Can you believe he only learnt what a meme was yesterday?”

“It’s possible to get by without looking at memes, Vers,” replied Minn-Erva boredly.

“Well, no matter. This presentation is going to be good, I hereby decree it,” said Vers. Then she marched out of the living room, probably to go pillage the kitchen or something.

Everyone looked at Yon-Rogg. 

“What are you looking at me for?” he said. “If she’s commandeering the project, it’s not my job to stop her.”

“But it kind of _is_ …” mumbled Att-Lass.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY??” shouted Yon-Rogg.

“NOTHING!!” Att-Lass replied quickly.

Later that day, everyone was preparing for the gala.

“So do we have to have to wear fancy clothes?” asked Vers.

“No, we’ll be in our uniforms since we’ll be representing Starforce,” replied Yon-Rogg, who was reviewing the guest list. “I hope you know this means we have to be on our _best_ behavior.”

“Good for me! I’m always on my best behavior,” Vers said with a smirk.

“Mhm,” he replied. “Just try not to yell too much.”

“Hm, I wonder if there will be Gala apples at this gala,” Vers pondered, already on another subject.

“What are you talking about?” asked Korath.

“Apples? You know? Uhh…actually, never mind. I don’t think I know either.” She replied.

Minn-Erva sighed. She was straightening Att-Lass’s bowtie, which he had insisted on wearing. 

“Hey, if this bowtie chokes me, I’m counting on you to not let me die,” he whispered.

“Whatever,” she replied.

“Alright, team! There’s a ferry arriving in 15 minutes to take us to the gala. We’ll have 30 minutes to socialize before our presentation. When it comes time for that, we’re going to walk up on a designated stage and deliver our lecture. Then we’ll be free for the rest of the night to do whatever we want,” Yon-Rogg summed up.

Vers raised her hand.

“You don’t have to raise your hand, Vers,” Yon-Rogg said.

“Oh, okay. I just wanted to ask, do we have to socialize? Because that’s boring.”

“Well, it would be the polite thing to do. But in your case, it may be better not to,” he answered.

“Oh. Cool,” she said. “Thanks for that.”

“Any time,” he replied with an overly pleased smile.

Minn-Erva threw her hands up. “Ugh, if this is all that’s happening, I’m going to go do some last-minute changes on my hair.” 

“Does my hair look good?” asked Korath.

“Uhhh…yeah,” answered Att-Lass.

Soon, the ferry arrived. It was a fancy skiff with a canvas roof on top and lights draped all over it.

“Ooh, this is fancy,” said Vers.

“I told you, everything relating to a gala is fancy,” said Minn-Erva and strolled past her.

“Yeah, except you,” replied Vers.

“OOOOOHHH!!” shouted Att-Lass.

When they got to the gala, they found it to be inside a fancy building that was all lit up. Inside, the party was raging. Well, raging as best it could when the only people attending were boring Kree nobility in fancy suits and whatnot.

“Alright, everyone, have fun. And remember Vers, no screaming,” announced Yon-Rogg.

“Gasp! The buffet table! Gala apples, here I come!” Vers shouted.

“Already failed,” Minn-Erva sighed with a shake of her head.

“Hey, I’m coming with you!” said Att-Lass, butting into Minn-Erva in his scramble to catch up.

“I am coming as well,” said Korath. As he walked through the crowd, people seemed to gravitate away from him.

“Hm,” said Minn-Erva. Then she turned to Bron-Char. “Do you have the laptop with our presentation?”

“Right here!” he said and held it up. Just then a random guy walked by and bumped the laptop. It smashed to the floor in a kabillion pieces.

Bron-Char stared at the pieces blankly. Minn-Erva looked around and smiled nervously at people. Yon-Rogg pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Well, it looks like our presentation just went from bad to worse,” Minn-Erva said.

“It wasn’t _bad,_ Minn-Erva, it was just _different._ But, yeah, we’re in a predicament now,” Yon-Rogg replied.

“HEY BUDDY!! HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR PEOPLE HOLDING LAPTOPS IN THE AIR!” shouted Bron-Char.

Some people looked at them weirdly.

Just then Vers came stumbling over with her arms full of pastries. “Hey guys, guess what!! These balls of greatness taste just like cream puffs! Try one!”

“Cream what?” asked Yon-Rogg, but was stopped when Vers stuffed one in his mouth.

Minn-Erva looked repulsed, and then started cleaning up the pieces of the laptop.

“Oh, uh, what happened there?” asked Vers. “No wait, don’t tell me. Bron-Char waved it in the air and some random guy knocked it down.”

“Your detective skills are getting better, I see,” said Yon-Rogg, swallowing his “cream puff.”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out,” Vers replied.

“Excuse me, but, what are we going to do for our presentation now?” asked Bron-Char.

Vers narrowed her eyes determinedly. “We’ll just have to wing it,” she declared.

“Wing it?” repeated Minn-Erva.

Vers threw her hands up. “Nobody gets me. Whatever, you’ll see how it happens. Until then, you guys ought to stop lingering by this smashed laptop and go socialize.”

“Maybe I don’t want to socialize,” replied Yon-Rogg.

Vers gave him a look. “But everybody loves you!”

Yon-Rogg gave _her_ a look. “Everyone?” he repeated.

“I thought everybody loves Ronan,” commented Korath, walking over. There were crumbs of various kinds sprinkled over his shoulders.

“Everyone _does_ love me,” said Ronan, suddenly appearing.

“AAH!” screamed everyone.

“What are _you_ doing here?” scowled Yon-Rogg.

“I’m a member of the Accusers. I have the right to attend galas,” he said snidely.

“I think what Yon-Rogg’s trying to say is that nobody likes you, you’re not welcome here, and he hates your guts,” Vers helpfully supplied.

“ _Vers!_ ” Yon-Rogg whisper-shouted.

“Hm. That sounds about right,” said Ronan. Then he walked away.

Just then, a random guy walked up on stage. “Now it’s time for tonight’s feature presentation by Starforce!! Please welcome Commander Yon-Rogg, Mini-Erva, Verse, Charred-Bron, Coolrath, and Att-Lisa!”

All the Kree applauded. 

“Uh, Yon-Rogg, do you have another team that we don’t know about?” asked Vers.

He pinched the bridge of his nose for the second time that night. “All I can say is, either our names were spelled wrong on the program or that guy is really bad at pronouncing things.” He beckoned his team to follow him onto the stage. 

“But he got _your_ name right, which further reinforces my ‘everybody loves you’ theory,” Vers said with a smile.

“Whatever,” he replied. “If you were planning anything special for our presentation, now is the time.”

The team now stood in a line on the platform. All the people in attendance quieted down and turned toward them. The lights dimmed and a spotlight shown onto them. 

Att-Lass fidgeted. Minn-Erva cleared her throat. A cricket chirped.

“SO!” Vers said, clapping her hands together. “We’re gathered here tonight to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Supreme Intelligence!”

“…It’s the 1000th, lass,” whispered Bron-Char.

“I mean the ONE THOUSANDTH!! Sorry bout that,” Vers continued casually. “Um…the Supreme Intelligence has been a leader and part of our culture for a very, very long time. I’m sure it’s proud of us for putting on a celebration for it, even though it can’t be here because it’s an AI…”

“We’ll be sure to show it the livestream,” added Minn-Erva.

“Yeah,” said Vers. “So, uh, we all love the Supreme Intelligence, right?”

Some people in the crowd lightly cheered. Yon-Rogg averted his eyes when Vers looked at him. 

“Yeah, so uh, we just want to say thank you to the Supreme Intelligence for leading us and making all the hard decisions. And protecting us from Skrulls. Though that’s kinda our job, isn’t it?” Vers looked at her teammates, who were sort of trying to hide their faces.

“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the Supreme Intelligence is cool. Real cool. I mean, I personally haven’t spoken to it yet, but from what I hear it governs missions and when people have to make dinner!”

Now the crowd was starting to look really confused.

“Yeah, it’s just the best. Apparently it bullies people into doing things they don’t want to do. Plus, I hear it always takes on the form of the person you most admire, but _older_ looking! How rude is that?! All in all, the Supreme Intelligence is just a little cra--”

“O-kay, Vers, that’ll do it,” interrupted Yon-Rogg. He got in front of her and smiled well-meaningly at the crowd. “In conclusion, I think it’s safe to say that everyone has their own views of the Supreme Intelligence, and they are all respectable. However, we can all agree that it is an insightful leader who has only made positive contributions to our society thus far.”

The room clapped. A few people whistled. Ronan sat in the back eating pie with a gruff expression on his face.

“Thank you and good night,” said the Starforce team. Then they all but ran off the stage.

Yon-Rogg ushered his team out the door. It was already a cool night outside. Small pieces of confetti rained down from the building, some of which settled like snow in Yon-Rogg’s hair. “I think we can all agree that we should take an early leave tonight,” he said.

“Why? Was there something wrong with my presentation?” asked Vers.

He looked at her. “You know, I’m beginning to think that you play dumb for comedic effect.”

She smiled. “Your detective skills have improved, I see!”

Minn-Erva scowled. “Excuse me, but if we’re not going back to the gala, I’d like to head home and take a hot bath to relieve me of all the stress that awful presentation caused.”

Yon-Rogg smiled, now somehow back in a good mood. “Alright. Everyone, feel free to head home. But I highly recommend you do _not_ return to the gala, even for cream puffs. We need to let this incident blow over.”

“Sure thing, boss,” replied Vers. She pulled a cream puff out of her pocket and munched it.

Korath grumbled. “You should have brought one for me.”

“Yeah, and me!” complained Att-Lass.

“Sorry, I didn’t think ahead. I did bring one for Yon-Rogg, though,” she said, and stuffed it in his mouth.

“I will never understand the young folk,” mused Bron-Char.

“Yeah, me neither,” said Korath.

“What?” Vers shrugged. “He clearly enjoyed it the first time!”

“Okay, well, I’m going to head home. The marathon of Everybody Loves Ronan is starting in half an hour,” said Att-Lass.

“Aha! I knew it. Everybody DOES love Ronan,” said Korath.

Vers gasped with mock-offense. “No, everybody loves--”

“Let’s not get back into this,” Yon-Rogg sighed.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! To any and all reading: thank you for reading! XD  
> Please don't hesitate to comment; it really makes my day to hear your thoughts and opinions.  
> Also, this might be one of the longest one-shots I've ever written. It's 2648 words! :O


	5. Scares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vers tries to celebrate Halloween!

One Hala Day, Vers was strolling along the sidewalk in downtown upper Hala. The sun was dimmed by clouds and a cool breeze blew past. She shivered in her Starforce-issued jacket. 

“It sure is getting colder. I bet it’s around the time for Halloween,” she mused. 

There were no Halloween decorations anywhere, however. That only made her more aggravated. “Somebody’s got to do something about this,” she decided.

Yon-Rogg was already tired. He had been up since the crack of dawn filing reports for Starforce related stuff, and had now been informed that the Helion’s windshield was damaged. Once he had finished up in his office (which was just his apartment), he headed to the Helion to see what was going on, and what his team was getting up to. Coffee in hand, he walked up the ramp—

“BOO!!” shouted Vers, jumping out of nowhere. A few plastic alien toys dropped from the roof on strings.

Yon-Rogg blinked. “Vers, what is this?”

She drew back. “You didn’t even flinch! That’s not fair! Not even a drop of coffee left that mug. Seriously, why did I think I’d be able to crack you?”

“Maybe you neglected to remember that warriors of Starforce are supposed to be disciplined in suppressing their emotions. And in case you forgot, surprise is a rather unhelpful one.”

She scoffed. “Surprise isn’t an emotion. It’s…an element.” She tried to reset her plastic aliens.

“What? No, Vers, surprise isn’t an element. Didn’t you take Halan chemistry?” he countered. “And what are you doing with those kiddy toys?”

“They’re supposed to drop down and scare whoever comes into the Helion. I rigged them up to this tripwire,” she explained, pointing to the floor.

He observed. “I didn’t see that before. At least you got me there.”

She snorted. “Yeah, because making you trigger a tripwire that didn’t do anything to you is such a big accomplishment.”

He sipped his mug. “Sorry, but I’m always prepared. Even when I’m not.”

She rolled her eyes. Then she snatched his mug of coffee and downed half of it.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. “You know, Vers, you don’t automatically own everything of mine.”

“If it’s yummy, I do,” she replied, lighting her hand up under the mug to reheat the coffee. “Don’t worry, I know you have a big stash of the instant stuff at home.”

“Since when have you been at my home?” he asked.

“Since…every other morning?” she answered. “By the way, there’s a chip on the windshield. You might want to go look at that.”

He gave her an exasperated smile and went to grab the coffee mug back, but she held on. As they played tug of war, there was the sound of footsteps, a snap, and a high-pitched girly scream. Vers abruptly let go of the mug and it launched backwards, spilling the coffee all over Att-Lass.

“AAAHHhH!” he screamed.

“What the--!!” shouted Vers. Then she noticed that he had triggered her kiddy toys. “Hey! My Halloween surprise scared you!”

Korath walked in. “What is Hala-ween?” 

“Oh, well, it’s a holiday where--”

“What’s a Hala-day?” asked Bron-Char, walking up. “Do you mean weekdays?”

“HAVE YOU GUYS NOTICED I’M COVERED IN SCALDING COFFEE?!?!” shouted Att-Lass, jumping around all over the Helion. Eventually he tripped over the briefing holo-table and smashed straight through the center.

Everybody gasped.

“The briefing holo-table! What have you done?!” cried Korath.

“That old thing holds some dear memories,” said Bron-Char with a sniff.

“Att-Lass, take a time-out,” ordered Yon-Rogg, and pointed to the corner. He also threw a towel at Att-Lass.

There was silence for a minute.

“I’ll have somebody get this thing out of here,” Yon-Rogg said, motioning to the wreckage. “I can project our briefings from my wrist unit anyway.”

Vers sighed. “Well, okay. Have you checked--”

There was another snap, and an “ugh!!”

Vers turned around and saw Minn-Erva. “Ha-HA! My tripwire kiddy toy contraption gave you a scare, Minn!”

Minn-Erva gave Vers a death glare. “Don’t call me that. And no, that poorly-rigged excuse for a scare-inducing device didn’t startle me, it was the fact that the briefing holo-table is in ruins and Att-Lass is in the corner soaked in coffee.”

Vers looked around at the carnage. “What? No, no, my contraption definitely did it.”

Minn-Erva looked so annoyed she might explode. “Why is it that every time I get to the Helion last, you guys have either wrecked it or pulled some dumb prank?”

“I don’t pull dumb pranks! Whatcha talking about?” Vers laughed innocently.

“Vers, what is this?” Yon-Rogg called from the “cockpit” (as Vers called it.)

“Hm?” she went over and looked at the spot on the windshield where he was pointing; there was a Hala potato chip taped to the glass.

“Oh, hehe, would you look at that, there’s a chip on the windshield,” she smiled.

He looked at her. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Lighten up, Yon,” she patted his head.

The whole of Starforce watched the scene with what could only be described as relatively abject horror.

“Why are you guys watching us with relatively abject horror? It was just a dumb prank,” Vers said.

“Yeah, hypocrite. A dumb prank,” said Minn-Erva. “On our _Commander._ ”

“What? Oh, he doesn’t mind! Do you?” she asked, turning to Yon-Rogg.

He looked up. “I’m not going to grace that question with an answer.” Then he went to the bathroom.

“GASP!!” Att-Lass gasped. “He never goes to the bathroom. He must be really shaken.”

“Bugger off, Att-Lass. Everybody goes to the bathroom,” Vers retorted. 

“Oh yeah?” he challenged. “Do you?”

She blinked. “Uhh…yes.”

“I’m startin’ to worry for your health, lad,” commented Bron-Char.

“In many military circles, using the bathroom is a sign of weakness,” said Korath.

“What? You made that up,” said Minn-Erva.

“If you say so,” he replied.

“Why are you guys going off about this?” Vers asked incredulously. “Either you go to the bathroom because you need to, or you don’t.”

“Why are you guys talking about the bathroom?” asked Yon-Rogg, who had just walked out of the bathroom.

“Uh…um…” said everyone.

Just then, the lights cut.

“Woah,” said Att-Lass. “Saved by a power outage.”

“Saved from what, exactly?” came Yon-Rogg’s voice.

“He still heard you, Att-Lass,” sighed Vers. “And I thought you were our stealth expert.”

“Whoever said I was stealthy with my vocal chords?” he retorted.

Just then there was a loud banging from outside.

“Hey, who’s banging on the Helion?” said Minn-Erva. “We just got the scratches buffed out!”

The knocking continued. Then other noises joined it: scraping, whistling, and ghostly groaning.

“Do you guys hear that ghostly groaning?” asked Att-Lass. He started shuffling around and bumping into everybody.

“Would you quit being a scaredy-cat?” asked Vers.

“What’s a cat?” asked Korath.

“Would someone open the hatch?” interjected Yon-Rogg.

There was a minute of silence were everyone poked each other and tried to figure out where the hatch was. Finally Minn-Erva said, “It’s locked.”

“What!?” shouted Att-Lass. “This is an attempt on our lives! We’re all gonna die!”

“Calm down, Att-Lass. No one’s going to die,” said Yon-Rogg.

Just then they heard more sounds from outside: distant screaming.

“Now I am concerned,” said Korath.

“If something’s happening, we have to get out!” exclaimed Minn-Erva. They heard her banging on the hatch release button. 

“I can’t see anything! What if there’s an assassin in here?!” shouted Att-Lass.

“Ouch! Quit elbowing my ribs!” grumbled Vers. 

From outside, they heard someone yell: _“Skrulls!”_

Then all heck broke loose inside the Helion.

“We don’t have an emergency exit hatch?!” shouted Minn-Erva.

“Maybe we could smash the windshield and get out that way,” suggested Bron-Char.

“No, it’s military glass, designed to be bulletproof. We could get out through the aquatic stealth release,” said Yon-Rogg. 

“You mean, the underwater launchers,” said Vers.

He sighed. “Yes.”

“Oh hey, I just had an idea too,” she added. Then she lit up her fist so that they could all see each other.

Minn-Erva gave her a trademark annoyed look. “You couldn’t have done that earlier?”

“Hmm…” Vers tapped her chin. “Nope.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to get out,” said Att-Lass. He turned and saw one of Vers’s plastic toys hanging in the air. He shrieked like a little girl.

Luckily Vers didn’t do anything besides smile creepily.

“Now is not the time for smiling creepily, Vers,” said Yon-Rogg as he herded them toward the underwater launchers. “Or screaming like a girl.” He eyed Att-Lass.

They all climbed into the little nooks in the walls. “It’s dark in here,” Korath complained.

“Don’t tell me you’re chickening too,” Minn-Erva scowled, though her voice sounded a little rattled.

“There are likely Skrulls outside. Do I not have a legitimate reason to let my heart rate go up by one percent?” asked Korath.

“You’re weird, dude,” said Vers. 

“Get ready, team. I don’t know what we’ll see once we’re ejected,” cautioned Yon-Rogg.

He hit a button, and they were all unceremoniously spat out of the ship. They landed in a pile of limbs, with Yon-Rogg standing on top with his sidearm drawn.

He was pointing it at a group of random Kree technicians were who paused mid-shout. A few were in the process of banging on the Helion with pipes. One of them had a speaker that was playing recordings of Skrull battle cries. Fake ashes drifted through the air, some of which settled like snow in Yon-Rogg’s hair.

He lowered his gun. “Vers.”

“Yeah?” she asked from below. He could pretty much hear the smile in her voice.

“Care to elaborate on this?” he asked.

“You catch on fast. I see my instruction has not been for naught,” she replied, and wrestled herself out from under Bron-Char.

“What are you talking about? You don’t instruct him about anything,” said Minn-Erva.

“That’s what you think,” Vers said, still smiling.

_“Vers,”_ Yon-Rogg repeated. _“Explain.”_

“Uh-oh,” she mumbled. She could tell he was really peeved. “Don’t go to the bathroom on me, but uh…HAPPY HALAWEEN!!”

There were crickets for a moment.

“WHAT?!” shouted Minn-Erva. She jumped up and threw everybody off her. “YOU ENGINEERED ALL OF THIS?! YOU LOCKED THE HELION?! YOU CUT THE POWER?! YOU…YOU _HIRED_ THESE IDIOTS TO MAKE US THINK THAT THERE WAS A LEGITIMATE NATIONAL EMERGENCY?!?!?!?!?!?”

“Hmm…” Vers tapped her chin. “Pretty much. I gave you guys a good scare, no?” She turned to the random Kree technicians. “Thanks, guys!”

“No problem,” one of them said. Then they packed up and left.

“How did you even convince them to do this? It could be considered treason, almost,” said Korath.

“Oh, you know, I just offered them what they couldn’t refuse…” Vers replied.

“Am I supposed to guess what that is?” asked Korath confusedly.

She sighed. “Money.”

“Oh.” He said.

“Well, I’m sure the Commander is going to make sure you’re disciplined accordingly for pulling this,” Minn-Erva said smugly. “Nobody, not even you, is allowed to get away with this sort of behavior.”

Everyone turned to Yon-Rogg, who had been silently watching the scene, stroking his chin with all the prowess of a learned sage. After a moment, he surprised all of them by letting out a small chuckle.  
“What Vers did was unprofessional, yes, but she meant well. And she truly did manage to catch us off guard. Not just anyone does that to my team. It was a good Halaween scare.”

Minn-Erva’s jaw hit the ground. “But…but…”

Yon-Rogg turned to her. “Lighten up, Minn.”

Vers almost busted out laughing at the look on her face. Then she turned to Yon-Rogg. “Well said! The student has become…the teaching assistant.”

“Relax, Vers. You haven’t taught me anything,” he responded.

“Pfft. Yeah right. By the way, thanks for not grilling me. I know I kinda overstepped my boundaries there.”

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘grilling,’ but I never said I wasn’t going to. It’s extra lawn mower simulation training for you tomorrow.”

“Aw, man! That stinks!” she complained.

“Well you should have thought about that before you staged a Skrull attack,” he replied with a hint of a smile. “Now come on team, let’s get some coffee.”

“Sure! As long as it stays away from my face this time,” said Att-Lass.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray, a new story! I know it's a little late for a Halloween themed one, but still.  
>  Also, I realized something terrible... There is no actual briefing holo-table in the movie. This whole time I thought their briefing was projected from a table! But it's actually from Yon's wrist! Woah!  
> So anyway, that's why the briefing holo-table had to meet its tragic end in this story - to explain why it's not in the movie.   
>  R.I.P. Briefing Holo-Table, you will be missed. ;_;


	6. Thankful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More haladays--I mean, holidays are celebrated among Starforce, at the behest of Vers. But Yon-Rogg gets a little into it, too! ;)

One Hala Day, Vers was strolling along the sunny streets of upper Hala in her uniform. She was not out for a happy walk, however. She was on official patrolling duty along with the rest of her team, who were spread out around the district. She didn’t understand why they had to patrol – nothing big ever happened, and even if something did, there had to be other less-important noobs to handle it, right?

These were the thoughts going through her head as she stopped at a vendor’s booth to buy some work snacks, as she called them. As she continued her uneventful walk while eating chips, her comm buzzed.

“Everyone report back to the main square for analysis.” That was Yon-Rogg, obviously.

“Copy. On my way,” came Att-Lass’s voice.

“Copy. Almost there,” said Minn-Erva.

“Copy.” Korath, for sure.

“Copy. Headed there now, lad!” boomed Bron-Char.

“Ay-ay! Just lemme finish my work snacks,” added Vers.

After some static, Minn-Erva said, “Can’t you ever be normal and follow standard protocol, Twinklefists?”

“Nope,” said Vers, popping the p.

She heard a sigh come from Yon-Rogg’s end. “Just get over here, you guys.”

As they regrouped and reported back their findings (of which there were a startlingly nonexistent amount), Vers scrunched up her face and got to thinking.

“Uh-oh, you look like you’re thinking,” said Att-Lass.

She peeked open one eye and said, “As a matter of fact, I am.”

“What about?” he inquired as he checked his pistols. “Or would it be safer if I didn’t ask?”

“Ha. I was just thinking that it’s been a few weeks since we celebrated Halaween, so it must be time for another holiday, right?” she pondered. “But it seems like there’s literally never any holidays here on Hala.”

“What do you mean? There is a holiday today,” said Att-Lass.

“Wait, really? There is? What is it?” asked Vers excitedly.

“Att-Lass, can I see you over here for a second?” interrupted Yon-Rogg.

“Whoops, gotta go,” he said and jogged away.

Vers watched as he conferred with Yon-Rogg. “Suspicious…” 

After Att-Lass left, she went up to Yon-Rogg herself and said, “I see what’s going on here.”

“Whatever could you be talking about, Vers?” he asked dryly as he scrolled on his wrist display.

“I’m thinking that it’s a holiday and you don’t want us to celebrate it!” she accused.

He paused and looked at her. She looked at him. The staring contest continued.

Minn-Erva walked by, paused, saw them staring into each other’s eyes, then shook her head and kept walking, trying to erase the image from her brain.

Finally Yon-Rogg consented with a sigh. “I didn’t want to tell you.”

“WHAT?! Why on Hala not? Are you afraid I’ll pull another fake Skrull heist? Because I seriously won’t. Probably.”

He gave her a look and said, “Today isn’t an especially large holiday, but we do celebrate and commend those who cooperated with the Blue Cross and donated blood to save the lives of others.”

She stared. Then she gasped for twenty minutes straight. “AHA!” She pointed at him. 

“Vers! Would you- -would you stop making a scene?” he hissed, looking around.

“Nobody cares,” she said. “And DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!! You didn’t want to tell me about this holiday because you were afraid I’d go and make a big stink about the lack of recognition a certain someone gets for making the most selfless and important blood donation of the century!”

He gave her a look, for the twentieth time that minute. “It wasn’t that big of a deal, Vers.”

Her cheeks ballooned with air as she tried to keep from laughing. “Yeah, right! Bringing me back from the literal dead and replacing my entire blood supply so I can live without my powers making me explode is not that big of a deal. I guess it really wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if I had really died, either.”

“Vers! Don’t joke about that,” he grumbled. “That’s not what I meant. I may have done you a great service that day, but that doesn’t mean you have to sing my praises. It was just common decency.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you are too modest for your own good.” 

Then, after a few moments of silence, she jumped into the air and shrieked, “I’VE GOT IT!!”

Korath, who was nearby drinking coffee, jolted his cup and all of it flew into the air. It landed on his head and steamed. 

While he ran around screaming, Vers said, “This blood-donation-holiday is a lot like Thanksgiving!! All about appreciating our helpful people and being thankful for saved lives…and stuff. We should have a big dinner to celebrate!”

Yon-Rogg was hesitantly observing Minn-Erva chasing Korath with a towel. He turned to Vers. “A dinner? Are you sure about that?”

“Believe me, I know you’re thinking about last time we made a dinner. Don’t worry, for this one, I was thinking more along the lines of ordering take-out.”

Now, “take-out” was not a term commonly used on Hala, but Yon-Rogg had heard Vers say it so many times he already knew what she meant. He shrugged. “Works for me.”

Later that night, the Starforce team had gathered back at the Helion after a long, boring, dull, cold, relatively uneventful day of patrolling. Vers had arrived late because she was out buying a picnic table.

“Uh, why did you bring that table?” asked Att-Lass.

“It’s for our Thanksgiving dinner, obviously,” she replied. “I thought we should eat it outside, especially since our briefing holo-table was smashed.”

“Nobody’s interested in your made-up holidays, Vers,” deadpanned Minn-Erva.

Vers stuck her tongue out. “I think _some_ body is.” She looked toward the entrance to the hangar, where Yon-Rogg was walking in holding bags of take-out. 

“Oh no,” said Minn-Erva.

“Oh yes,” said Vers.

“Alright, team, circle up. We’re going to have a dinner tonight to celebrate those who save lives, and everything we are thankful for in general,” he explained as he laid out the food. He hadn’t bothered to ask what everyone had wanted, just picked up a bunch of random stuff.

“Hm, sounds like a fun idea,” commented Att-Lass as he began to dig through the food.

“Celebrating veterans should be a holiday in itself, really,” said Bron-Char meaningfully.

Minn-Erva grumbled. “There you guys go, getting on board with whatever she says. Aren’t you ever going to do what I say for a change?”

“We DO do what you say,” exclaimed Att-Lass. “Like watching the rom-coms you recom--”

“ANYway, let’s eat!” she interrupted, shoving him out of the way.

Vers looked around at everyone, raised her eyebrows, and then decided to be silent. She took a seat, as did everyone else. “So I just thought that before we eat, we should each say something that we’re thankful for. I think it’d be very meaningful.” 

Minn-Erva rolled her eyes. “Please, Vers, that’s not neces--”

“Meaningful is my middle name, lass!” said Bron-Char merrily.

“Great!!” she replied with a laugh. “So why don’t we let Yon-Rogg go first?”

Everyone turned to him. He glanced at them all and said, “I am thankful for a responsible Starforce team who isn’t afraid to make things interesting.” He seemed to be looking at Vers when he said the last part.

“Aw. I relate.” Vers said. “Today I am thankful for--”

“Oh brother,” mumbled Minn-Erva.

“LET ME FINISH, MINN!! Today I am thankful for Yon-Rogg here, not only for being a great mentor, teacher, and commander, but also for saving my life. Thanks, Yon.”

He cleared his throat. “No problem.”

“See, that wasn’t so bad!! Now tell us what you’re thankful for, Korath!” said Vers cheerfully.

Before he could say anything, they all noticed something floating through the air.

“Would ya look at that? Our first Hala snowfall,” said Bron-Char. 

“Oooh,” said Vers. She smiled as the snow settled like…snow on Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“I am thankful that I do not have hair,” said Korath.

Att-Lass gave him a weird look and then said, “I’m thankful to have friends here on Starforce.”

“Aww,” awed Bron-Char. “That warms the heart, lad. I, in turn, am thankful for each and every day I return from a mission alive. My team does a bang-up job protecting each other.”

“Hm,” said Minn-Erva. “I’m thankful for…uh…”

“Good grief, Minn-Erva! Don’t tell me you’re actually not thankful for anything!” Vers exclaimed.

“Shut up, Vers, I’m thinking!” she scowled.

“Let’s keep a happy atmosphere, you two,” interjected Yon-Rogg.

Minn-Erva was silent for a second, then said, “I’m thankful…that…Vers hasn’t blown anything up today.”

“Wow. Way to focus on the small things,” said Vers. Then she aimed her fist at a forklift full of crates and blew it to smithereens. A few pieces of the wreckage landed in Korath’s chicken.

“Way to _ruin_ the small things,” commented Minn-Erva.

“That looked like a large thing to me,” said Bron-Char.

“Whatever, guys. Can we just eat? I’m starving,” said Att-Lass.

“Yes,” said Yon-Rogg. He just looked like he was tired of all their crud.

“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!” exclaimed Vers.

Then they ate, and it was yummy.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was obviously a Thanksgiving story... Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you enjoyed it :P  
>  Also, I just feel the need to point out that the whole "blood donation" holiday was made up. By me. Hehe...


	7. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starforce goes a little nuts in the snow! :O

One Hala Day, Vers walked out of her apartment building and tripped and fell face first onto the pavement. Luckily, it wasn’t too hard of a fall because the pavement was covered in a sturdy layer of…

“SNOW!!” shouted Vers. She grabbed some and tossed it into the air. “Must’ve fallen overnight.” 

She got up and started brushing herself off. She noticed that a small potted bush by the apartment complex’s entrance had totally shriveled up and died. It was just a few twigs poking out of a bed of snow now.

“How sad,” she commented.

Just then, someone came up behind her and said, “Your hedge needs trimming.”

She turned around, already knowing who it was, of course. “Haha, very funny, Yon-Rogg. Did it take you all morning to think of that?”

“Well, considering it’s only eight hours after midnight and I’ve been sleeping for seven of them, and I didn’t know it would snow, AND I didn’t think all the plants would die overnight…no,” he replied. “I came up with it on the spot. I DO have a sense of humor, you know.”

She smiled as she secretly did something behind her back. “Yeh, I know. It only really exists because of me, though.”

“Don’t take so much credit,” he said, and turned around to admire the snow swept landscape of early morning upper Hala.

Then it happened…a snowball hit the back of his head.

He whipped around and glared at Vers, who was busy trying and failing to conceal her laughter. “Uhhh…oops. Hand slipped,” she giggled.

“Right. It slipped. And that resulted in a snowball being formed and thrown at my head.”

She looked around innocently. “Yeah.”

He slowly turned away. “Well…in that case…” He turned back with an entire armload of snowballs. They apparently just magically materialized. “Prepare to die!!” he yelled and cannonballed Vers with them.

“YI!” she shouted and ran for cover. She blasted a hole in a large snowbank and dove through it. “You’ll never take me alive!” she yelled. She began forming more ammo.

“We’ll see!” he shouted back. He lobbed a snowball in a perfect arc and it hit Vers square on the top of her head. 

“Oof!” she grumbled, dusting the snow off her hair. “I think I need to up my game.”

She quickly assembled a snow catapult and loaded it with snow. Then she covered her ears and fired it. A wall of snow enveloped Yon-Rogg. She peeked over her wall and saw nothing but a ginormous pile of whiteness.

“Uh…Yon? Are you dead?” she cautiously stepped over the wall and approached the snow heap.

But all at once…the snow levitated into the air, lifted by Yon-Rogg’s antigravity gauntlets.

“Uh-oh…” Vers said. “HIT THE DECK!” 

She dove for cover as Yon-Rogg launched 200 pounds of snow at her. Just as it made contact, they heard a new voice enter the scene.

“Uh, Commander…why are you killing Vers?” It was Att-Lass.

Yon-Rogg stopped and his gauntlets powered down instantly. The remaining snow in the air fell lightly, almost as if was a natural snowfall.

“I’m not killing Vers. What are you talking about?” he asked matter-of-factly.

“Um, well, maybe my eyes are going bad, but I’m pretty sure I saw you pelting Vers with--”

Just then Vers busted out of the snow heap and tackled Att-Lass full on. They smashed into the snow blanket on the ground, and then Vers began to bury him. “Resistance is futile!” she declared.

Just then another voice came in. “Vers! Why are you killing Att-Lass?!” Now that was Minn-Erva.

Vers looked up, slowing down only slightly. “Because,” she said. And then continued.

Yon-Rogg pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oi.”

Minn-Erva just looked between the two people with a stupefied look on her face. “I…don’t really want to know.”

Just then a snowball hit her in the back of head. Her eyes widened. “VERS!!”

Yon-Rogg started glancing around, like maybe now was a good time to make his escape.

“I didn’t do anything!!” Vers defended. “Can’t you see I’m still burying Att-Lass?”

“H-help…meee…” came a muffled groan from under the snow. A bluer-than-normal hand rose shakily from it. 

“STAY DOWN!!” yelled Vers and slapped more snow on top.

Minn-Erva was busy fuming, so much so that the snow on her head melted and her hair became wet.

Just then Korath walked up beside her. “I enjoy snow.”

“OH REALLY, NO??” she growled.

“Yes. That is why I threw a snowball at you,” he said.

Minn-Erva paused and slowly turned to him. 

“Nice knowing ya,” called Vers.

And so, Minn-Erva began throttling Korath while Vers buried Att-Lass and Yon-Rogg checked to see if the dead hedge needed watering.

“Oh, so Starforce was having a shindig and nobody thought to invite the old-timer?” asked Bron-Char, walking up. 

“Believe me, Bron-Char, you’re better off…not here,” said Yon-Rogg, shouting to be heard over the sounds of battlefield carnage.

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Bron-Char. “I know how to throw down. Especially if it involves snow!” He scooped up a massive handful of snow and shaped it into a ball.

“Oh brother,” mumbled Yon-Rogg. He started to back down the block.

“Did you page me?” asked his brother, suddenly there.

“No, I did not! Go away!” said Yon-Rogg.

“Yeesh, fine,” said his brother and left.

Meanwhile, Bron-Char hurled his microwave-sized snowball with the force of an elephant’s baseball pitch. (That’s what Vers would have said, anyway.)  
The snowball plowed into Vers and she flew ten feet, over Yon-Rogg’s head, and smacked into the side of the apartment building. She stuck there for about ten seconds before falling off.

“Ow,” she said.

Yon-Rogg bent over her. “Are you okay? You look a little white.”

“I do, huh? I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the 50 pounds of SNOW I was just hit with.”

He chuckled and pulled her to her feet. “Of course not. But I think I’m going to have to send you to the medbay to check for spinal fracturing.”

“Oh, nah, I’m good,” she said, then noticed a bone sticking out of her ribcage. She tucked it back in. “All fine!”

Yon-Rogg apparently did not think it was fine, however. He turned to go throttle Bron-Char; but a new snowball was already incoming. 

“DUCK!” he shouted.

Instead of ducking, Vers sent a photon blast straight at the snowball. The snowball was too thick to be completely incinerated, so instead it went ricocheting straight up. It smashed into the balcony of someone’s apartment and then concrete and deck chairs came raining down. Plaster settled like snow in Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“Vers, would you just take it easy?” he chided.

“Sorry. It’s fight or flight for me. But usually fight,” she responded with a smile.

“Yes, and speaking of fighting…” Yon-Rogg looked over at the rest of Starforce. 

Minn-Erva and Korath were chasing each other everywhere, trying to kill each other. Bron-Char was bulls-eyeing people with gigantic snowballs. Att-Lass was trying to hobble away, but every two seconds somebody knocked him on his face.

“I think it’s time we put an end to this whole…thing,” commented Vers.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Yon-Rogg. He activated his antigrav gauntlets and lifted every person up by their ankles.

“HEY!! WE’RE KILLING EACH OTHER OVER HERE!” shouted Minn-Erva.

Vers tutted. “Is that any way to talk to your Commander, Minn?”

“YOU SHUT YOUR FACE!” yelled Minn-Erva. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”

“All right everyone, calm down,” said Yon-Rogg. He placed them right side up again. “It’s time for you all to stop quarreling and go home. Get some rest and warm up. Report to the Helion in, like, two hours.”

Vers leaned over to Att-lass and said, “Wow. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard him say ‘like.’”

“What do you mean? I’m sure he says ‘like’ all the time. Like, he likes coffee,” replied Att-Lass, looking confused.

“No no, I mean, the first time he’s said ‘like’ in an uncertain way,” clarified Vers.

“Uh-huh, and why does that matter?” asked Att-Lass, shivering and sniffling and wanting to go home.

“Hmm…” Vers tapped her chin. “I dunno.”

“Vers! Att-Lass! Stop dawdling!” called Yon-Rogg. He and the rest of the team were already dispersing.

“But I live here!” exclaimed Vers. “And speaking of which, how come everybody randomly showed up at my apartment building today?”

“We may never know,” shrugged Att-Lass.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL, Yon's brother had a cameo. :3  
> What's funny is that we know he exists, but don't know anything about him. For this story I just assumed that Yon finds him annoying. XD


	8. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vers decides it's time to celebrate Christmas. Will she be able to get the holiday spirit flowing through Starforce?

One Hala Day, Vers was snuggled into one of the niches in the Helion’s walls, scrolling through a holo-book on her wrist display. A blanket was tucked over her and she had a coffee in one hand. 

Att-Lass walked by carrying a big stack of wood. “Whatcha reading, Vers?”

She looked up. “ _The Fault in Our Galaxies_ , of course!”

He stopped. “That one’s boring.”

“Is not!” she argued. “It’s very compelling. And sad.”

“Whatever. I thought you had mastered your ‘no emotions’ training by now,” replied Att-Lass, stopping to grab a ration bar from his locker.

“Well, I pretend that I’ve mastered it. But don’t tell Yon-Rogg that,” she answered, sipping her mug.

Att-Lass rolled his eyes. “Okay, why don’t you come outside and see the shed I’m building?”

“Shed?” she questioned, closing down her book.

“Yeah, I’m building it myself so I can store my speeder bike in the same hangar as the Helion,” he said, hefting his wood pile.

“Well, okay. But someone is probably going to steal it,” she said and followed him out.

It was a pretty brisk afternoon on Hala. The sun was dimmed and the sky was an ugly dirty snow color. Snow itself was coming down in moderate amounts, swept into the entrance of the hangar by a light wind.

Att-Lass walked Vers over to the far right side, where three walls of a rickety-looking wooden shack had been put up.

“Pretty great, right?” he asked, beaming.

Vers poked one of the posts and instantly got a splinter. “Uh…yeah. It’s awesome.”

“Yes, it’s good for him to be branching out and using his creative muscles,” said Yon-Rogg, coming up behind them. He too had a mug of coffee.

“Hey! Coffee pals!” yelled Vers and clinked her mug with his.

Minn-Erva, Korath, and Bron-Char were spread out around the hangar, sweeping, tidying up, and doing some winter cleaning. Minn-Erva turned upon hearing Vers yelling weird stuff and gave her a trademark annoyed look. Yon-Rogg rolled his eyes lightly and sipped his mug. Att-Lass began putting up the final wall of his shed.

Just then Vers spat out her coffee. Yon-Rogg leaned to the side so that it missed his face by millimeters. 

“CHRISTMAS!!” shouted Vers, so loud that some birds nesting five stories up flew away.

Bron-Char rubbed his ears. “What was that, lass?”

“I SAID, **CHRI** \--”

“DON’T say it again! We heard you,” Minn-Erva snapped. “Now what exactly does that mean?”

“I was realizing that it’s basically December and it’s after Halloween and Thanksgiving and the days are short and cold. That means it’s time for Christmas. Another Haladay on Hala!”

“Ooh. Really?” asked Korath. A small cone of snow was sitting on his head for some reason.

“Okay, is every single episode going to be about you forcing us to celebrate a made-up holiday?” asked Minn-Erva with annoyance.

At that moment, the fourth wall of Att-Lass’s shed completely shattered. “Oh man…” he mumbled.

Vers looked between the two of them. “ _No,_ it’s not.” She then pulled everyone into the Helion so they could be warm.

“You’d better be right,” scowled Minn-Erva. Then she plunked herself down in a seat to bear the long preach talk Vers was about to give.

“I hereby declare today Christmas,” she began. “Yeah, I know it’s short notice, but I’m the impatient type. We’ll need a nice tree, and since it probably won’t fit in here, we can put it in the hanger. Ooh, and we can build a fire! And sing! And eat a delicious dinner! And exchange presents! And--”

“Woah woah woah!!” interrupted Minn-Erva. “WHAT is all this crud you’re talking about? This seems like a rather complicated made-up holiday.”

Vers stamped her foot _and_ stuck out her tongue. “It’s not made made-up,” she said.

“Well then how come we’ve never heard of it? Or celebrated it?” asked Minn-Erva with an eyebrow raised.

“Minn-Erva, lay off her. We all know that Vers is a little special,” interjected Yon-Rogg.

“Yeah, except ‘special’ is not the word I would use,” Minn-Erva snickered under her breath. 

“I heard that,” said Yon-Rogg.

She blinked. “Oh.”

“Minn-Erva can build the fire,” he announced.

“GREAT! I’ll get the dinner. My treat,” volunteered Bron-Char.

“And I’ll get the tree!” said Att-Lass.

“And I will buy presents for everyone,” said Korath.

Vers was smiling brightly. Actually, her whole head was glowing. “That’s great, Korath, but we all need to buy our own presents for everyone individually. Plus Santa always brings some.”

“Hm, that’s weird,” was all he said.

“Santa? I can already tell he’s made up,” said Att-Lass.

“Hey!” defended Vers. “Don’t quash the holiday spirit!”

“Okay, team, spread out! Let’s get this done,” interrupted Yon-Rogg and the meeting was adjourned.

As Vers walked out of the Helion, swinging her arms merrily, she stopped and noticed Minn-Erva still sitting in a niche, looking pretty dejected. Vers sighed. She didn’t really want to do this, but she probably should. It was part of being a noble warrior hero.  
She walked up to Minn-Erva. “Hey. I’m sorry that nobody listens to you. I just really like Christmas.”

Minn-Erva looked up. “I’m sure you do. Why else would the Commander instantly go along with it?”

“Listen, I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I think you should give Christmas a chance. It tends to bring joy and get people together, which are two things I think you and I really need.”

Minn-Erva let out a teeny grumble. “Fine. But don’t expect to me to get you a glamorous present.”

Vers beamed. “It’s a start!” Then she gave Minn-Erva a 0.6 second hug and dashed out of the Helion.

“I’d better go bleach myself,” said Minn-Erva to herself.

Later that night, the team had returned to the docking bay. Bron-Char and Yon-Rogg busied themselves setting up the tree, Minn-Erva arranged wood for the fire, Att-Lass fawned over all the presents, and Korath arranged the dinner on Vers’ picnic table. Vers just stood back and observed all of it. 

“You all have done well, my apprentices,” she said at length.

“I am not your apprentice,” said Minn-Erva. She took out her rifle and blasted the wood pile. It burst into flames. “There. The fire’s done.”

“Great! Did anybody get chestnuts? Cause we could roast them over the open fire,” said Vers.

“What are chestnuts, lass?” asked Bron-Char. 

“Uh…I don’t know,” she answered.

“Well then I probably can’t help you,” he said.

“Hm. Reasonable enough. Now everybody, I think we’re ready to get this Christmas celebration started!” announced Vers.

“Okay. So what do we do?” asked Minn-Erva.

“We do all kinds of things to celebrate Christmas! Like decorating the tree with lights and tinsel and putting up decorations and giving gifts and hanging mistletoe!” She bumped Yon-Rogg’s elbow after the last part, though no one was quite sure why.

“Okay, but…what do we DO?” Minn-Erva pressed.

Vers tapped her chin. “Hmmm…we be together.”

Then she tossed a handful of homemade tinsel into the air. It sparkled in the moonlight and settled like snow on Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“But actually, Christmas isn’t just about presents and being together. In fact, it’s not really about those things at all. It’s about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ!”

Everyone gave her a strange look.

“What?” she asked.

“Who is that?” asked Korath.

Vers went cross-eyed. “Well, you see…” she began.

But Minn-Erva interrupted. “Att-Lass, look what I got you!”

“OOH! LEMME SEE!” he shouted and ripped into Minn-Erva’s present. “Oh! It’s popcorn. Thanks.”

“No problem. I got some things for everybody else, too,” she said and passed them around.

“Oh, I guess it’s present time then. I think it always _was_ exciting,” mused Vers. 

Nobody’s interested in what they all got, but here’s some stuff:  
Yon-Rogg got a hair comb and a #1 Commander mug.  
Minn-Erva got a headband and a throw pillow. People really wanted to throw it at each other.  
Bron-Char got a new old book by the ancient scholars of Hala, and a bad drawing of him being killed by Skrulls. (He took it as a compliment instead of an insult.)  
Att-Lass got a new pistol and a set of dumbbells. He wasn’t very impressed.  
Korath got a DVD of the new season of Everybody Loves Ronan, and a hairbrush. (Which was obviously a gag gift.)  
Vers got many bags of popcorn and chips, and a note that stated, “I hate you.”

Once all the unwrapping was taken care of, there was a large mess of green-and-black Starforce-issued wrapping paper all over the hangar. Everybody began messing with their stuff, except Yon-Rogg because he had no coffee to put in his mug and wouldn’t comb his hair in front of other people. 

“Well that was fun,” said Att-Lass, who was trying and failing to lift his new dumbbells.

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you it would be?” said Vers, nomming all of her new snacks. 

“Vers, don’t spoil your appetite. We still have dinner,” said Yon-Rogg.

She just stuck her tongue out. “It’s Christmas!” 

“That’s not an excuse,” he countered.

“Yes it is,” she countered back. Then she held out her caramel-flavored popcorn. “Try it if you dare.”

He rolled his eyes but took some and ate it. “All things in moderation.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said with a smile. “Now let’s eat!”

And so they all settled down at the picnic table for Christmas dinner. The hangar was warmed by the cozy Christmas fire, and lit by the beautiful Christmas tree.

“This is nice, you know?” commented Att-Lass.

“…Maybe,” answered Minn-Erva.

“Perhaps we should do this more often,” suggested Korath.

“Well, Christmas only comes once a year, but don’t worry. Easter is just around the corner!” exclaimed Vers.

“Good grief,” said Minn-Erva with a facepalm.

“Why don’t we have a toast? The sophisticated folk always do that on a special occasion,” suggested Bron-Char.

“Ooh, good idea!” said Vers, raising her glass of juice. “But, I’m not really any good at toasts. Why don’t we ask our wonderful Commander over there?” 

They looked to the end of the table where Yon-Rogg sat. He looked around at them and sighed, raising his glass. “I propose a toast to holiday cheer, the Christmas spirit, and to the person who brings all of it into our lives.” He looked toward Vers.

“Gasp!” she gasped. “How touching.”

“To Vers!” declared Att-Lass.

“TO VERS!” repeated everyone, except maybe Minn-Erva was a little quiet. They clinked their glasses.

“Now let’s pray and get started on this yummy meal!” said Vers impatiently.

So they did, and Bron-Char began tearing into his chicken like a rabid wolf.

“Isn’t that so…Bron- _Charming_??” Vers asked. “AHAHA!” she slapped her knee.

“Now I’ve heard it all,” said Minn-Erva and ate her salad.

Far above, a sleigh flew over Hala. “MERRY KREE-MAS!! HO HO HOOOOO!!”

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this little Christmas special! I had a lot of fun writing it.  
> Wishing all of you a merry Christmas this year! ;)  
> And if you're reading this at a time that's not Christmas...have a great day! XD


	9. Knife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vers gets ahold of something dangerous of Yon-Rogg's... O_o

One Hala Day, Vers strolled into the Helion. As she packed extra work snacks into her locker, she noticed Yon-Rogg off to the side, moving around a bunch of battle supplies with his antigrav gauntlets. As he lifted old boxes out of the lockers, dust settled like snow on his hair. He was currently moving a heavy container, and as he did so, something metal was accidentally being slipped out of his side pocket.

“Hm,” she said and closed her locker.

He gave a sudden yank, and it flew free. The next second a huge knife came barreling toward her and stuck into the wall two millimeters from her face.

“You missed,” she said blandly.

He let out a breath and wiped his forehead. “I wasn’t aiming for you, Vers! Did you honestly think I wanted to kill you?”

She shrugged. “Well, sometimes during training, I have my suspicions.” She plucked the knife out of the wall. “You never know!”

“Hey, don’t turn that thing on me,” said Yon-Rogg, holding his hands up uneasily.

“What, do I make you nervous?” she asked with a little lilt in her voice. “Holding a gigantic knife?”

He backed up a step. “No, I just happen to know that you’re the reckless type and that knife might somehow end up in my ribcage. Like you said, you never know.” 

She chuckled and twirled the knife around. “This is seriously deadly looking. You could scare all your kid recruits if they knew you had this.”

He rolled his eyes but maintained his distance. “I don’t carry it on me when I go to teach, Vers. What kind of weirdo would do that?”

“A weirdo who also planned on dicing up some fruit for their snack,” she suggested. Then she started drooling thinking about fruit.

“They get their own Starforce-issued lunches. Why would I dice up fruit with a Starforce-issued knife? It’s more for breaking open foreign containment units.”

“Like, if I brought home a lunchbox from a different planet and you didn’t know how to work the latch? You’d bust out THIS for it?”

He shrugged. “New things warrant caution.”

She sighed. “You are the biggest Kree that ever Kreed.”

“’Kreed’ is not a real verb, Vers,” he smiled. Then he held his hand out. “Would you give me that back now?”

She held it back against her chest. “I can’t trust you with this bad boy! I think it’d be happier with me.”

“Vers, your specialty lies in your hands. Not in my knife. Are you worried I might use it against you or something?”

“Maybe, if we went to a lava planet and I got scorched and a giant wart rose up on my arm and you had to scrape it off to prevent infection--”

“EW! What are you blabbering about, Vers?!” Minn-Erva scowled, walking in. She was wearing a headband and had a water bottle. 

“I’m just predicting when Yon-Rogg will have to use his knife on me in the future,” she replied merrily.

“That will never happen, Vers,” Yon-Rogg said dryly.

“Why do you have the _Commander’s_ knife?” questioned Minn-Erva.

“Long story,” supplied Yon-Rogg.

“Seems about right,” she sighed and left the Helion.

“Okay now, could you give that knife back? Finally?” asked Yon-Rogg. He extended his hand to make it a final request.

“Mmm…nah,” said Vers. Then she turned around and bolted out of the Helion at breakneck speeds.

“VERS!” shouted Yon-Rogg and gave chase.

…BUT he stopped up short right after he got out of the ship. “No, she just wants me to follow her. I think I’ll play it safe and wait this one out.”

He paced around in the Helion. “…But who knows what she could be doing with that knife? There’s no limit to her imagination! Or her audacity!” He stroked his chin. “Maybe she’s just messing with me. She does do that a lot.”

“Uh, Commander? Why are you talking to yourself?” asked Att-Lass.

Yon-Rogg spun around. “Att-Lass!! I wasn’t! I was…on the comm with Korath,” he said quickly, pulling up his wrist display and pointing pointedly at it.

Att-Lass, who had been standing in the doorway of the kitchen drinking coffee the whole time, said, “Uhhhhh…okay.”

Yon-Rogg gave him a quick pat on the shoulder and then went into the hangar. He walked around the side of the Helion and bumped right into Vers. 

“WOAH! HEY WATCH IT YOU--” she brought up a fist and then did a double-take. “Oh hey Yon-Rogg! Took you long enough.”

“What are you talking about, Vers?” he said, straightening himself out.

“Oh, well, after I ran, I doubled back behind the Helion because I figured you would figure I wanted you to chase me, except you’d be wrong because I used reverse psychology and didn’t run off at all. So I just decided to hang out here and do nothing while you worried your pants off about what I’d be doing with your knife.”

He stared at her. Then he shook his head. “You’re insatiable.”

“That’s a big word,” she said.

“Not really,” he replied. 

She took his knife out from behind her back. It was covered in crimson red sludge.

“VERS! WHAT IS THAT?!” exclaimed Bron-Char from across the hangar. 

“NOTHING!!” she shouted back. “JUST THE BLOOD OF MY ENEMIES!!”

She caught Yon-Rogg giving her a suspicious stare. “Okay,” she laughed. “It’s just fruit juice. But I gave the old guy a scare, huh?” Then she raised the ginormous blade to her face and licked it.

“Vers!” Yon-Rogg reached for the knife. “Don’t do--”

“OWWww!” she shouted and dropped the knife with a clatter. Now there was some blue mixing with the red on her tongue.

Yon-Rogg gave her a disapproving look. “I tried to warn you. Many times.”

She held her tongue with her fingers. “Nob pfhunny.”

Yon-Rogg sighed and steered her back to the Helion. “Come on, I think your tongue needs a bandage.”

“Thab’s gwoss!” she complained. 

“Not as gross as you drooling all over your hands and the floor,” he replied with a smirk and dug around in his locker for a bandage.

A few minutes later, Korath walked in with a wrist display full of mission data and saw Yon-Rogg sticking his fingers in Vers’s mouth.  
“Is this a bad time?” he asked bluntly.

Yon-Rogg finished up quickly. “Um…”

“Nope!” said Vers. She hopped off her seat and patted Korath’s back before vanishing down the exit hatch.

Korath looked at his commander with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s a long story,” Yon-Rogg said.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just thought I'd mention that these stories are also found (and commonly updated sooner) on Wattpad, under my profile ZoraChampion.  
> There's also a bunch of other fanfiction on there I've written which is not Marvel-related.   
> Thanks for reading! <3


	10. Exercise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starforce spends some time in the exercise place (not a gym)   
> :3

One Hala Day, Vers was jogging along a long field of tall green grass. The heat from the sun was intense, and the ambient noise of various insects was annoying. Even more annoying was the sweat pouring from her like a waterfall as she pushed a Starforce-issued lawnmower over the thick turf. 

“Pick up the pace, Vers!” called Yon-Rogg from behind her. “Don’t let the sweat get to you!”

Vers groaned and gave the lawnmower a mighty shove. Of course she wasn’t really mowing anything; she was currently partaking in Starforce’s lawnmower simulation training. The lawn beneath her was really just a treadmill with super-realistic holographic grass on it. Yon-Rogg stood behind her on the normal flooring overseeing her progress.

“You’re starting to droop, Vers. How many times have I told you to get some substantial rest instead of looking at memes all night?”

“The flerken videos aren’t going to watch themselves!” she protested, while wiping a water bottle’s worth of sweat off her forehead. “You know, if this was real grass, I’d be able to water it with just my sweat.”

“Yeah, and then it’d grow back twice as fast so that you could mow it again sooner!” added Att-Lass, who was mowing in the lane next to Vers.

“I doubt Vers’ sweat has any nutritional value,” said Minn-Erva, who was mowing on Vers’ other side.

“And yours does?” Vers asked, wincing as a simulated mosquito bit her.

Minn-Erva turned to look at her, extra blue with exertion. “Possibly.”

“No insulting each other’s sweat, now,” Yon-Rogg called. He was now sitting in a chair looking at something on his wrist display with an umbrella to block out the simulated sunrays settling like snow on his hair.

“Oi, why does he have to catch every wrong thing we do?” asked Vers.

“Because he’s very observant, talented, and looking out for our best interests,” answered Minn-Erva without missing a beat.

Vers gave her a side-eyed look. “But he also likes to see us suffer, I think,” she added thoughtfully.

“I heard that,” Yon-Rogg said. He was now sipping an energy drink.

Vers rolled her eyes. ‘At least I’m safe in my mind,’ she thought.

“Eh, no, you’re not, really,” replied Yon-Rogg.

Vers stopped mowing. “GASP! You can read my mind!?”

Yon-Rogg lowered his wrist display like an old man would a newspaper. “Uh…well…”

Just then Att-Lass stopped mowing and got off the treadmill. He collapsed on the floor in a heap of sweatiness and didn’t move.

By this time Minn-Erva had paused too. “Is he asleep?” she asked.

Vers shook her head sagely. “No, no… I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”

Yon-Rogg got up and poked Att-Lass. “Hm. I suppose it’s time for a break,” he decided.

“THANK THE COLLECTIVE!!” shouted Vers. She sprang from her treadmill and began doing ballet all around Att-Lass’s dead body.

“Excuse me, Vers,” Minn-Erva said mock-sweetly, “but weren’t you just dying from exertion two seconds ago?”

Vers stopped dancing. “Yeah, but that was when I was mowing. Now I am not mowing, and I am happy.” She swiped Yon-Rogg’s energy drink and downed it. “GASP! I didn’t know you liked the Starforce Explosion flavor!”

Minn-Erva let out an annoyed grumble and grabbed a towel from her training locker. “When will you learn to actually be mature and professional?” she asked. “And by extension, show the proper respect due to your superiors?” She seemed to be ignoring the fact that Yon-Rogg wasn’t giving one hoot about whatever Vers was doing.

Vers turned to look at her. Her cheeks were ballooned with energy drink. She swallowed with some difficulty and then said, “Minn-Erva, Minn-Erva, Minn-Erva. I’ve told you countless times. I AM professional. And your name has too many syllables. And it’s not like Yon-Rogg or anybody else is THAT much more superior to me.”

Yon-Rogg’s eyebrow raised, and Minn-Erva’s eye twitched. “You’re the most recent recruit on our team!” she exploded. “By basic logic, that makes you _lowest_ on the totem pole! You don’t have the right to talk down to people or boss anybody around! No one should listen to you, and yet they still _do_! For some stupid unimaginable reason, you have everyone wrapped around your finger, especially the Co--”

“Who’s yelling in here?” asked Korath, walking in. He had one of those sweat-wicking exercise bands around his bald head. It was bright purple too. 

Minn-Erva paused in her angry rant. She took a long deep breath for three minutes straight. “Nobody was yelling,” she said at last. Then she tromped out.

Korath looked puzzled. Yon-Rogg looked concerned. Vers just blinked.

“If you all don’t mind my intrusion, why exactly is silence reigning in here?” asked Bron-Char, walking in. He was in a tank top, which scared Vers back to reality.

“Oh, no reason, just that Minn-Erva had a mental breakdown,” she said with a smile.

“You don’t suppose someone should go check on her?” asked Korath.

“I thought this episode was supposed to be about exercise,” Bron-Char said with a confused look.

“Yeah, this isn’t some family drama,” Vers added.

“Hm, that reminds me, there is a new season of Everybody Loves Ronan. I should go watch that,” said Korath and he left.

“Uhhh…I thought he came here to exercise?” Vers looked super confused now.

“Oh no, I just called him over in case he needed to break up a fight between you and Minn-Erva,” interjected Yon-Rogg. “Looks like it was the right call.”

Vers gave him a suspicious look. “Your ability to predict the future is slightly scary,” she said with narrowed eyes. “And read minds. Are those special superpowers that some Kree have or something?”

He smiled good-naturedly and popped up whatever he was looking at on his wrist display. “Not at all. I just know you, and I know that wherever you go, trouble usually follows.”

Vers stuck out her tongue, but she was smiling too. “Harsh.”

Bron-Char scratched his head. “Well if nothing else interesting is happenin, I suppose I’ll start on my 5-hour weekend workout.” He started pushing a lawnmower at 60 mph with only his pinkie.

Vers just shook her head and gathered up her things. “Well I guess I’ll go home and sit in a hot bath and eat an entire cake to soothe my poor muscles.”

“Vers…” started Yon-Rogg.

“I’m kidding!” she laughed. “Sort of. Not really.” She walked out the door.

“Oi.” Yon-Rogg pinched the bridge of his nose.

Minn-Erva poked her head in. “So everybody’s just gonna forget about me??”

“Hey, lass! Care to join me?!” called Bron-Char. Now he was juggling several lawnmowers.

Minn-Erva rolled her eyes. “On second thought, I think I’ll just go take a nap.”

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it worth pointing out that it's canon that Yon-Rogg really can read Vers' mind?? :)


	11. Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vers pays Yon-Rogg a visit... o-o

One Hala Day, Vers stood in a dark hallway, right outside a certain apartment door. It was very early in the morning, but she was wide awake. It was so quiet that she could hear her own thoughts as loudly as a movie in a theater.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes.”

She knocked upon the door many, many times as fast as she could. When she realized she might have been overdoing it, she quickly stopped. She heard rustling from the other side. She started bouncing up and down subtly with impatience. Which means, not subtly. 

Finally the door slid open with its familiar mechanical whooshing sound. There stood Yon-Rogg in all his half-awake, pajama-clad, irritated glory. “Do you know what time it is?” he asked grouchily.

Vers smiled brightly. “Not really. Just thought I’d jump out of bed and come pay you a visit.”

He sighed and motioned for her to follow him into his apartment. She ran straight for his bed and cannonballed right onto it. Yon-Rogg watched her with tired interest while sipping a glass of good old night water. 

“So you came for no reason?” he asked.

She stopped her wrestling match with his sheets. “Oh, uh, well not exactly.”

He set down his night water. “Dreams again?”

She sat up. “No no! Why would you even think that?!” She chuckled fakely.

He raised an eyebrow, then followed it up with a yawn. “Well, if that’s not the reason, you shouldn’t have woken me up so early.”

“Hey!” she protested. “What if this is an emergency?”

“Like the time you lost your hairbrush and bothered me about it two hours after midnight?” He asked. “I think I’ll take my chances.” He began to walk toward the bed menacingly.

“Eek!” she jumped out and dove onto the couch instead. He took her place and started covering up again. 

“Wow. You really _are_ tired,” she observed quietly. “Maybe we should call you… _Yawn-Rogg!_ ” She slapped her knee. “Ahahahaha! LOLOLOL!”

“Very funny,” he snorted from under the covers.

“Wait, you actually got the joke?” she asked. “I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved his hand dismissively.

Silence reigned for a second. In the dim light shining from the console on the wall, she could see dust motes floating through the air, some of which settled like snow on Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“You know, I think we Starforce people should get fluffier pillows,” Vers said.

“The pillows we have are fine, and they promote proper neck and spine health,” Yon-Rogg answered, sounding a little exasperated.

“Wow, how do you know so much about pillows? You’re basically just a walking dictionary,” she marveled. “Or maybe, a walking Starforce trainee guidebook.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered. Then he sat up, looking more awake than he had been before he got back in bed. “Did you come here to tell me something or not?”

“OH YEAH!” she exclaimed. She tapped her chin. “Hmm…”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Well…I’m like that sometimes,” she answered innocently.

He gave her a look. “Is there anything I can do to jog your memory before I kick you out?”

She proceeded to mess her hair all up while thinking vigorously. “Not really. I just need a second.” She sat in silence, aided in her thought process only by the gentle hum of the air conditioning. 

Yon-Rogg glanced around while he was waiting for her to figure it out, as if he had forgotten what his own apartment looked like. “On a scale of 1 to 50, how important was it?” he finally asked.

“That’s a pretty broad scale. And I don’t really know,” she chuckled whilst picking at the tiny lint balls on her fuzzy socks.

He laid back with a sigh. “Well, when you remember, just tell m--”

“OH YEAH!!” she shouted. “I CAN’T FIND MY FAVORITE JOGGING SHOES!!”

After he recovered from the piercing loudness of her voice, he grabbed his pillow and chucked it at her head. 

“Hey!” she protested.

“You woke me up for that?!” he said. His voice was slightly raised, but not yelling. “I thought I taught you better than that! Especially since I literally just brought up the hairbrush example earlier. You should have known not to bother me.” He stopped to run a hand through his bed hair. “No, I suppose this is my fault, really. I’m not being hard enough on you.”

“What?” she exclaimed. “Just try saying that next time we’re sparring. Look, I apologize, but this is definitely important,” she said. “Why do you think I jogged here in nothing but my fuzzy socks? First of all, because I lost my shoes. Second of all, because they were thick enough to just barely survive getting holes bored through them.” She stopped to examine her feet. “…So THAT’S how all that lint got there.”

He groaned and grabbed his antigrav gauntlets off his nightstand. He powered them on. 

“Uh…” Vers took a step back. “Should I be scared right now?”

“Probably,” he replied. He aimed the gauntlets at her. 

“Eeek!” she covered her head like people in movies do when they know something inevitable is coming.

His pillow shot from the floor and into his hand. He powered down the gauntlets, slapped the pillow on his bed, and got cozied up. “I’m going to sleep. You should too, if you don’t want to have the world’s worst eye bags tomorrow.”

She pouted and turned to leave. “But…I haven’t found my shoes yet.”

“Look in your laundry hamper,” he suggested.

She tapped her chin. “Oh yeah…I do tend to accidentally throw them in there. Thanks! Sweet dreams!” She darted out the door as if she didn’t have a care in the world. 

“Sweet dreams?” he said to himself. “She’s one to talk.” He rolled over and stifled a yawn. “Hmm…Yawn-Rogg. She might’ve had a point there.” 

Outside, Vers had her ear pressed to his door. “Hehe. Score.”

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm, this is actually the first story to only feature two members of Starforce. I didn't want it to have to be this way, but since I loved the morning scene in the movie, I figured I would end up caving and writing this. lol


	12. Valentine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is in the air on Valentine's Day!! Or at least that's what Vers tries to make happen...

One Hala Day, Vers walked into the hangar. It was lunchtime, and she had packed her own lunch. She noticed Bron-Char sitting at her picnic table eating his own lunch, so she figured she would join him.

Plopping down, she said, “I packed my own lunch today.”

“That’s nice, lass,” he responded. He was pretty much eating an entire buffet for his lunch.

“I don’t really like cooking, but sometimes the food is worth it, ya know?” she continued. “Plus it’s so much healthier!”

“I suppose,” he said with his giant mouth full.

“But I just really enjoy pre-packaged food, which is why I don’t cook that much,” Vers explained.

“I see,” replied Bron-Char, chugging a giant keg of something.

“You are so articulate, you know?” she said dryly.

“Indeed. ‘Articulate’ is my middle name, lass!” he responded merrily.

She rolled her eyes. “Okay.” Then she got to thinking. Not just about food, but also the inner workings of the universe. Mainly, holidays.

She took a big swig of her energy drink and then spat it all out for dramatic effect (luckily not in Bron-Char’s face). “I’VE GOT IT!” she yelled.

Bron-Char looked undisturbed by her outburst. “You don’t look you have anything to me,” he observed.

“I have the idea in my brain,” she clarified. “Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, I can feel it.”

“Did you say Valid Cry Day? Because I haven’t gotten the waterworks going in quite some years.”

“No!” Vers yelled. “Valentine’s Day! It’s a time for focusing on relationships, which means I think we should celebrate it by getting some people together... Like Att-Lass and Minn-Erva!”

“What? But they get together all the time!" he exclaimed.

"Uggh!" Vers groaned. "I meant together in, like, a romantic way."

"Oh." He scratched his head. "Why them, lass?”

“Simple, because they’re opposites! Att-Lass is simple and fun, while Minn-Erva is complicated and annoying. They’d be perfect together!”

Bron-Char mulled it over. “I’m sure she’d be thrilled to hear you say that. But Vers, you’re younger than they are, at least I think. Why not focus on your own love life?”

She almost choked. “Because I don’t have one! Isn’t that obvious??”

He stared at her. He thought about his answer long and hard. He finally said, “I dunno.”

“Great! So you’re in on my plan?”

“We can give it a whirl,” he consented. “But I can’t make any promises, lass.”

She shrugged. “Good enough for me. This is pretty much just a class project. But if we help Att-Lass and Minn-Erva find true love, I guess it’s a bonus.”

“Uh, okay.” Bron-Char shrugged and then continued eating his sandwich.

Vers tapped her chin. "Do you say 'lass' so much because it's the last half of Att-Lass's name?"

"Classified," he answered.

Later in the Helion, Vers had gotten Att-Lass alone. Well, sort of alone, since Yon-Rogg was in the cockpit and that was within earshot. She paced around, pondering her options while watching Att-Lass organize his locker. It was a sort of sanitation day aboard the Helion, so disinfectant spray was also misting from the ceiling.

“That’s cool,” she observed.

Eventually she noticed that Yon-Rogg had moved to the doorway and was watching her suspiciously. He motioned her into the cockpit.

“Uh-oh,” she mumbled, walking in. “Am I in trouble?”

“No,” he said, sitting in the pilot’s chair. “I’m just curious to know what you’re scheming.”

She smiled innocently. “I’m not scheming! Whatever gave you that impression?”

He gave her the most deadpan look the world had ever known. It didn’t couple well with the disinfectant mist settling like snow in his hair.

She chuckled nervously. “Oh right. You know me, and can read my mind. Forgot. Well if you must know, me and Bron-Char are planning to get Minn-Erva and Att-Lass together in celebration of Valentine’s Day.”

He stared at her. “I...don’t know what some of that means, but I’m not so sure I like it.”

She frowned briefly. “Why? Is my plan against Starforce rules?”

He gave a hesitant sigh and said, “No, but I don’t really believe in matchmaking.”

She shrugged. “Hey, as far as I’m concerned, if they’re meant to be together, it’ll happen. If not, oh well, we tried. After all, love is like a fart. It’s warm, unpredictable, and sometimes it stinks but it can also be the best feeling in the world.”

Yon-Rogg stared at her (more). “You sound like you speak from experience.”

“Oh no, no,” she said quickly. “I’m just very poetic.”

He raised his eyebrows and turned to the Helion’s heads-up display. “Okay then.”

She patted his shoulder. “Now I gotta go do my job. Wish me luck!”

She headed into the living room where Att-Lass was trying to balance five pistols in his hand.

“Hey Att-Lass, Minn-Erva is pretty, uh, great, you know. You should go, like, talk to her or something.”

Att-Lass stared at Vers as if she had sprouted green Skrull ears. “But...you hate Minn-Erva. And I talk to her all the time.”

“Oh, well, I don’t really _hate_ her, per se, we just disagree about some things. She’s the one who hates me, really. But anyway, I meant that you should get to know her better.”

He still looked a little suspicious. “Well we’ve already known each other for a few years, I don’t see how we could get any more familiar.”

Vers smirked, and then pretended to think. “Oh, I have a solution. Why don’t you maybe ask her out?”

Att-Lass blinked. “Like... outside? Of the Helion?”

Vers stared at him. “Yes, but preferably outside of the Helion in a restaurant.”

“Oh. Well I’m not sure I can afford any place fancy,” he replied. “I’m sure fast food would be good.”

Vers sighed. “Att-Lass, I ain’t talking about a friendly lunch.”

His knitted his eyebrows. “Then what ARE you talking about??”

Vers groaned. This is was not as easy as she thought.

Meanwhile, Bron-Char had taken a different approach. He had invited Minn-Erva to meet with him over lunch. When she walked into the fast-food joint and saw him sitting at a table for two, boring holes into her head with his glare, she got a little uneasy.

She sat down across from him and said, “For starters, I don’t like you like that.”

He blinked, then busted out laughing. His laugh happened to be as loud as the Helion’s jets in a megaphone, so Minn-Erva had to stuff a napkin in his face to quiet him down.

He spat it out and said, “That’s a funny one, lass. I certainly didn’t call you here for that reason. Though it is quite funny you should mention such a thing, actually...”

Minn-Erva narrowed her eyes. “...What is this about?”

“Oh, nothing!” exclaimed Bron-Char enthusiastically. He monched his beef wrap. He was also one of those people who just had a loud booming voice and was embarrassing to talk to in public.

“Did you just bring me here so you could yell and make me look bad?” asked Minn-Erva. She sipped her herbal water.

“I don’t see how that would happen, lass,” replied Bron-Char. “Nah, I just wanted a friendly lunch is all. Most of my old-timer friends are dead, you know, killed in action! Really fascinating stories behind them and their missions. Wanna hear?”

Minn-Erva was suddenly interested in the view onto the sidewalk. “Uhh, no. Thank you.”

“Huh, okay. I thought everyone loved hearing gruesome war stories,” Bron-Char mused. “But you’re not the only one who dislikes em. Att-Lass turned me down recently too. You and he have a lot in common, I’d reckon. Though I can’t understand why two people in the military don’t like hearing about war.”

Minn-Erva raised an eyebrow. “Let’s just say...your stories tend get to get a little extensive. And you also tend to get overly excited.”

“Nonsense!” he bellowed. His own drink fell over from the force of it. Luckily he had downed it in 0.7 seconds earlier. Minn-Erva recoiled and sipped her water while looking annoyed.

“So since you don’t seem too fond of spending time with little old me, why don’t you go find some younger companionship?” suggested Bron-Char. “Perhaps someone on our Starforce team? Maybe Vers?”

Minn-Erva looked at him like he was a total nutball. “Yeaahhh...that’s a great idea! Note sarcasm.”

He held his giant hands up in surrender, though he was grinning for some reason. “Then how about Att-Lass, hm?”

Minn-Erva gave him a weird look. “You’re suspicious. But fine, I’ll see what he’s up to.” She booped a button on her wrist display and contacted him right then and there. He picked up pretty quickly. “Att-Lass, what are you doing right now?” she asked, or more like demanded.

“Uh, just talking to Vers in the Helion, why?” he responded.

“Have time for lunch?”

He looked surprised. He looked at someone, then back to her. “I guess so. Is it a fast food place? Are you just drinking one of those disgusting herbal waters?”

“Hey! First of all, only Vers calls it ‘fast food.’ Second of all, it’s not disgusting. The subtle flavor allows you to focus more on the aroma and calming effect. Plus it’s healthy. And you have to eat healthy to be the best version of yourself.”

Att-Lass rolled his eyes. “Wow, you’ve been listening to the Commander a little too much, I think. And I’m pretty sure everybody calls it fast food, but you.”

Minn-Erva scoffed. “Quit trying to uproot everything I say. You don’t have the brain cells for it.”

Att-Lass gasped, half-fakely. “Are you calling me dumb?”

“Are you calling me mean?” she shot back.

“Kinda,” he answered.

“Oh,” she replied. “Well, sorry.”

“You should try saying that to Vers sometime,” he suggested friendly-ly.

She gave him a look. “Is that what this whole thing is about?”

He furrowed his brows. “You called _me._ ”

She tapped her chin. “Hm. You’re right. Why did I call you again?”

He scratched his head. “Uhhh...I dunno.” He looked away for a few seconds, and nodded his head. Then he said, “Why don’t you come on back to the Helion?”

She glanced up at Bron-Char, who had been listening to her whole conversation and was now face-palming. “Uh, I guess that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Great! See you in a few,” he said.

Back at the Helion, Vers was having an episode.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!?” she screeched. “How was that kind of conversation supposed to get her to like you?!? You just called her mean!!”

Att-Lass scratched his head. It must have been very itchy that day. “So that was a bad thing?”

Vers ruffled her hair up in frustration. “Oi! Yes! You should be grateful I prompted you to invite her back here. Now all you have to do is say something smooth and then ask her out for real or something.”

Att-Lass opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted by...Minn-Erva.

She was in the doorway. “So THAT’S what’s been going on.”

Vers whipped around. “Uh...hehe...you didn’t hear anything!”

“Oh I heard plenty,” Minn-Erva said, stomping up the ramp. “You’ve been pulling the strings, trying to force something on me and Att-Lass. Worse, you enlisted the help of sweet, innocent Bron-Char to do your dirty work for you.”

Bron-Char appeared behind her. “Sweet? Innocent? Consider me jangled.” Everyone ignored him.

“Minn-Erva, please don’t hate me for this. I seriously didn’t mean any harm. I actually had your best interests in mind when I concocted this Valentine’s plan!” Vers defended.

“Valentine’s?” she repeated. “No. Don’t tell me. Another one of your holidays.”

Vers smiled sheepishly. “Well yeah. You can’t blame me for trying. Won’t you at least try to go out with Att-Lass? You like him at least a little more than you like me, and that counts for something.”

Minn-Erva and Att-Lass looked at each other. Then they both busted out laughing.

“LOLOLOL!” said Att-Lass. “I couldn’t do that! She’s way too complicated and annoying!”

Minn-Erva punched his shoulder, playfully but also not. “And I could never go out with him! He’s way too simple and fun!”

Vers blinked at them. It was then she noticed Yon-Rogg was back at the cockpit doorway, watching her plan spectacularly fail. She hung her head.  
“Well I’m sorry I wasted everyone‘s time. Including my own.”

She didn’t expect Yon-Rogg to come up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Vers, at least you tried. Honestly, I think you did a pretty fair job. They wouldn’t have admitted those things about each other on an ordinary day.”

She lifted her head a little. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Yon.” She casually put her hand over his.

There was silence in the room for a second. Bron-Char and Att-Lass traded knowing glances.

Just then Korath walked in. “I am afraid to inform everyone that we will require a new microwave.”

A little more silence, then Att-Lass said, “Hm, what? Sorry, some ship--I mean stuff was happening.”

“I was making a cake but got distracted by your conversation, and so the microwave exploded.” Korath explained, as calmly as could be.

Minn-Erva shook her head. “What?! Why didn’t we hear it?”

Korath turned his head like a robot. “The muffler.”

Vers cocked her head. “Like...the muffler on a motorcycle? They make those for exploding microwaves? I don’t even get how that works.”

“Don’t worry, young apprentice, you will someday,” said Yon-Rogg.

Vers fumed. “YOU WANNA GO?!?”

“Go where? Out?” asked Att-Lass.

Vers and Yon-Rogg both looked like flerkens caught playing with string.

“What—y-you—no—why—“ Vers spluttered. She vaguely registered Minn-Erva choking in the background.

“I’m kidding, Vers, calm down,” said Att-Lass, holding up his hands in an appeasing manner.

“It isn’t funny,” scoffed Vers, smacking his arm.

“And I thought you liked jokes,” he shook his head. “You sure you’re not a Skrull?”

“You sure _you’re_ not a Skrull?” she shot back, looking annoyed.

He tapped his chin. “I dunno.”

She gave him a slightly alarmed look. Then she leaned in and said, “I’m watching you, punk.”

Everyone else had just been totally silent throughout the whole exchange. At last, Bron-Char clapped his hands. “Alright! Well now that that’s settled, why don’t we all go get something to eat together?”

“NO!!” shouted everyone.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe.


	13. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vers and Yon-Rogg go to the gym to train!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been really churning out these stories for the past week, and I figured I'd let my small audience know that it's probably going to slow down after this one. I guess I just randomly got so much inspiration that I had to write it all out before I lost it! (And it's not every day you hear a writer say that, lol) I do have another story in the works, I just think it'll be a longer one and thus take me longer to complete.  
>  In any case, stay tuned and thanks for reading!! <3

One Hala Day, Vers was strolling next to Yon-Rogg through the dark suburban streets of lower Hala. It was early in the morning (but not outlandishly) and they were heading to their usual gym to train. The area was pretty much empty, and the industrial equipment all around them provided a cozy temperature in contrast to the still-chilly streets above. Little potted plants on the roofs were dying, causing leaves to blow about in the air frantically. Some of them settled like snow in Yon-Rogg’s hair.

“I like the plant aesthetic,” said Vers, brushing them off his head.

“It’s the best way to get oxygen filtering down here,” Yon-Rogg said.

“Lol,” said Vers.

They arrived at the gym, took off their shoes, and plopped down their gym stuff. Then they stood opposite each other in the center of their favorite mat.

Vers readied herself. “Prepared to die?”

He chuckled and took his ready stance. “I’m in no danger of death today, thank you very much.”

“We’ll see!”

Then she launched herself at him. He proceeded to throw her in every direction available every two seconds, while also throwing in some pearls of wisdom for her to absorb. But they also went through their usual rounds of fill-in-the-blank. Or, as Vers thought of it, interrupt-Yon-Rogg-while-he-was-saying-something-she’d-heard-a-million-times.

“You have to let--”

“—go of the past, I know,” she said, attempting to flurry kick him. Every single kick missed, because he just backed up.

“Humor is a--”

“--fun pastime!!” she filled in, trying to get in a punch. He caught it midair, and the slap of the force was so strong it sent a shock wave through the gym. “Ow,” she added.

“Vers, it’s _distraction_. Humor is a distraction,” he repeated.

She rolled her eyes while blocking some of his jabs. “I know.”

“Good! I thought you forgot.”

She almost blew a gasket holding in her laughter, but if she let it out she knew that would probably lose her the fight.

He continued with, “Anger only serves--”

“--the enemy,” she finished for him. She tried to drop kick him but he somehow magically had ankles of steel and it didn’t work. She sighed and rolled out of range of his next kick. She was started to get frustrated and knew he could tell because the ends of her hair were sparking.

“Don’t let your--”

“Dreams be dreams?” she finished.

He stopped mid-punch. “ _What??_ ”

“SIKE!!” she grabbed his arm and spun around to judo flip him over her shoulder. However, it didn’t really work and he only went half of the way, meaning he stopped moving right when he was directly over her. He fell and squished her flat into the mat.

“Mmmrppfhh!” she mumbled from underneath him.

“Well,” he said. “I do believe there is a lesson to be learned here. You should not attempt to flip opponents who are heavier than you.”

“No kidding,” she grumbled, trying to claw her way out from underneath him.

“I think this is the first time someone has literally forced me to win,” he mused.

“I got it,” she gasped, still wriggling.

“In fact, another lesson could be learned here, about how to escape such predicaments as this,” he continued.

She went still briefly, the gears in her head turning. Then she somehow got her foot up and kicked him off of her. She jumped up as fast as possible and raised her fists defensively.

“You practically suffocated me!!” she panted.

He smiled from the floor. “Maybe, but you do need to work on your breathing exercises.”

“Why are you smiling?!” she scowled. Then she dropped her guard. “You let me kick you off, didn’t you? You went easy on me. I mean, easy while still being annoyingly hard.”

He rolled his eyes and stood up. “There is no such thing as easy or hard, as long as you put your best into it.”

“Nuh-uh,” she shook her sweaty head. “Everything is hard, and that’s a fact. You’ve just made it your motto to tell me that you’re accidentally going easy, which makes me think that it’s not that hard. So you’re just, like, reverse psychology-ing me.”

He gave her a questioning look. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about. I’m just saying you should do your best, and you’ll eventually be the best.”

“…version of myself, right?” she added.

He grabbed a towel. “Uh, no, just the best.”

She scoffed and took the towel from him. “You just changed it last minute to juke me.”

“Juking is against my moral code,” he laughed, grabbing his water bottle.

“Whatever,” she grumbled.

As they sat on a bench regaining their breath, Vers noticed something. “Hey, look, there’s a pool of sweat on the mat there.”

Yon-Rogg glanced over. There was one tiny little speck shining on the mat. “Mhm, that’s a pool, all right,” he confirmed.

“It undoubtedly poured forth from my unfortunate forehead as you squished me into pancake puree,” Vers decreed.

He shook his head. “It was probably drool, if you were thinking about pancakes during training.”

“Hey!” she said, offended. “I don’t think about food all the time. Only like 95% of the time. And how do you even know that pancakes are food?”

“They have ‘cake’ in their name, Vers. It’s not that hard,” he replied flatly.

She scowled in defeat. “Fine, but I wasn’t thinking about pancakes.”

“If you say so,” he said, giving her a side-eyed glance.

For a minute, all was calm. Nobody else was in the gym that morning, and the fact that they were in lower Hala meant that everything was generally quieter. The familiar orange light streamed through the large window at the top of the far wall.

“This is nice, you know?” Vers commented.

“What? Me getting to beat you up?” Yon-Rogg asked.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “ _No,_ getting to be here in this quiet place. It’s calm, at peace, passive. No Minn-Ervas.”

He chuckled. “Isn’t your apartment like that, too?”

“Sort of, but it has more of a cold vibe to it. This place is all warm and homey,” she wrapped her entire head up in her towel.

“This gym is more homey than your literal home?” he asked.

“I guess,” she replied, muffled through the towel. “Probably because I sweat a lot, and I do it here the most.”

He chuckled and took a swig of his water. “That’s a strange reason, but I’ve learned not to put anything past you.”

“That’s smart,” she said. She unwrapped her head, leaving a sweaty hair hurricane surrounding it.

“Woah,” said Yon-Rogg.

“Does it look as great as it smells?” she asked, her smile barely visible through the tangled blond forest.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to smell it,” he said, pinching his nose.

“Haha, I don’t blame you. Welp, I’d better get home and get showered so Minn-Erva doesn’t have a field day with this.” She got up and gathered her stuff.

Yon-Rogg got up too. “Care to tell me what a field day is?”

She turned around. “Um…I dunno.”

“That seems to be your answer for a lot of things,” he observed.

“Not a _lot!_ ” she stomped her foot. “Just…some.”

“You know, you might want to consider suppressing that habit of stomping your foot. You’ll wear out your shoes. Plus some might even call it…” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “… _unprofessional._ ”

Vers gasped. “Really?!”

He shrugged. “Quite possibly.”

“Wow, amazing,” she said.

“I…can’t tell if you’re being serious or not,” he tilted his head. “Are you?”

“Hmm…” she tapped her chin. “I dunno.”

He threw his hands up. “That’s it, I’m done. See you at the hangar in thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes?!” she exclaimed. “That’s not even enough time for me to get my bubble bath all lathered!”

“Then you’d better hurry,” he said.

“Argh! You stink,” she said.

“I know,” he replied.

“I don’t mean the smell,” she clarified.

“I know,” he repeated.

“Oi,” she grumbled.

She ran outside and dove in a melted snow bank to fix the problem. When she got to the hangar, she was a wet popsicle and Minn-Erva had a field day with it.

THE END!


	14. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starforce goes on a mission! Will it be successful, or will their crazy antics interfere? :P

One Hala Day, Vers was sitting on her bed doing the typical morning stretches of a lazy person. She yawned and grabbed a freshly made cup of coffee from her nightstand. Just as she went to take a tentative sip from the steaming rim…

Her comm bleeped loudly, causing her to jump and some of the coffee to spill. It landed on her snow-white pajama pants. Jumping up and cursing and flailing, she set down her coffee cup and grabbed her comm. “AAHHHHRRGGHHH!!” she yelled into it. “WHAT?!”

There were a few beats of silence from the other end. “…Vers, I apologize for interrupting, but it can wait.” It was Yon-Rogg. “We have a mission, straight from the Supreme Intelligence. Report to the Helion the millisecond you get those pants into the wash.”

“Wait, a mission?” she jumped up. Then she processed exactly what he said. “Wait, how did you know my pants wer--”

“I expect you here in ten minutes!!” he cut the communication.

“Oi,” she grumbled. But it was an excited grumble. 

When Vers got to the Helion, she found the rest of Starforce running all over the ship double-checking everything and generally panicking. Yon-Rogg was standing in the center watching them all like they were disgraces.

“Everyone, stop panicking!” he yelled. “You’re acting like this is our first mission.”

Att-Lass stopped up short as he was running. “Well, it’s been a while since we had an assignment, so we’re all just trying to make sure we’re ready.”

Korath ran through the room and smashed into Att-Lass. They went down on the floor in a heap of guns and ammo.

Yon-Rogg gave them a once-over. “On second thought, perhaps you need this prep time.”

Vers stepped over the heap of limbs and weapons. “Ha! Looks like I’m the only one to be trusted on this mission, since I am actually coordinated.” She proceeded to slip on a scattered pistol and fall on top of Att-Lass and Korath. 

“Oof,” said Att-Lass from the bottom of the heap.

Yon-Rogg looked down at the three of them. “Just…get up. It’s time for the briefing.”

“Hehe,” Vers chuckled casually as she pushed off of Korath’s head to stand up. Just then, Minn-Erva and Bron-Char came in, having fully prepped and battened down the kitchen.  
“Listen up, team!” announced Yon-Rogg. He pulled up something on his wrist display and proceeded to project it into the air with the iconic Starforce projector-glove-claw-thingy…  
The presentation showed a fiery red planet. “Today we’ll be traveling to Planet X-27 in order to apprehend a Kree soldier who has been identified as a traitor and spy,” explained Yon-Rogg. “His last given coordinates were right here.” He pointed at the map and a glowing yellow dot appeared. “We are to split up and approach him with stealth in order to take him by surprise if possible. If not, he is bound to resist forcefully, so if it comes to that we’ll just have to bring the heat. The Supreme Intelligence recommended bringing him in alive if possible, but if terminating him becomes necessary then it’s permissible. And speaking of heat, this planet is 86% lava, so the temperatures will be rather brutal, and the landmass is unsteady due to constant lava eruptions. So, in conclusion, we’ll need to tread lightly. No large explosives should be used, though I can’t see why we’d really need them. It’s a simple apprehension and extraction.” He shut off the projection.

The whole team was standing quietly in thought. Vers spoke first, of course. “Who would ever betray the Kree? That’s crazy!”

Yon-Rogg gave her a look. “Some people end up getting misguided, Vers. By the Skrulls or otherwise.” There was something unreadable in his gaze, but Vers decided not to bring that up.

“So when we find the traitor, who should be the one to handcuff him?” asked Minn-Erva.

“Ooh! I’ll do it!” exclaimed Bron-Char, rubbing his hands together eagerly. “I can also clobber him over the noggin, if you’d like.”

“You would kill him,” Korath reasoned, reasonably.

“Yeah,” agreed Vers. “I should be the one to do it! After all, I’m the most threatening.”

Minn-Erva almost busted out laughing, but held it in since that wouldn’t look good in front of the whole team. Luckily Yon-Rogg saved her from saying anything she’d regret.

“We’ll just see how it plays out,” he said. “Now let’s get going, and remember, the target is armed and dangerous. This mission could go any number of ways. For the good of all Kree.”

“For the good of all Kree!” they repeated.

A small matter of minutes later, the Helion popped out of a jump point and the vast fiery expanse of Planet X-27 loomed in front of them. As Yon-Rogg steered from the pilot’s chair, Vers leaned over his shoulder to look at it.

“Oooh,” she ooohed. “It’s kind of a weird place to hide out from the military, huh?”

“Well, the lava might deter some people from coming,” said Yon-Rogg as he prepared to land. “But not us.”

“Of course not us! We’re like peas in a pod, an inseparable unit that will go anywhere and do anything so long as we’re together!” responded Vers.

Korath gave her a strange look. 

Yon-Rogg locked in their landing path and then turned around in his chair. “Look, Vers, we are all just one big happy _fraternity_ of people. I can’t think of any other way to put that.”

She stared at him, her face twisted up in a wry smile. “Okay.”

At that moment, the ship touched down. Apparently it had entered the atmosphere and traveled through the volcanic turbulence without them noticing.

Minn-Erva busted into the cockpit. “It’s game time.”

Vers rolled her eyes. “We know.”

Yon-Rogg got up while Korath powered down the ship. “Okay everyone, arm yourselves and let’s head out. In the off-chance the traitor is a Skrull, follow protocol before extracting him.”

Vers huffed. “Fine. But I really don’t see why he’d be a Skrull.”

“It’s called ‘being safe instead of sorry,’” replied Yon-Rogg. 

She rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, yeah.” She briefly touched her photon disk to make extra sure it was working. 

They went out into the living room, which had a different atmosphere now that they were on a lava planet and not in the hangar. Bron-Char smashed the hatch button and the ramp lowered. The whole Starforce team stood staring at the planet as a blast of heat punched them in the faces. 

“You first,” Att-Lass said to Minn-Erva.

She grumbled but they continued standing there. Finally Yon-Rogg came up from the back and shoved them down the ramp. “Get going. You have the coordinates in your tracking systems.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why we’re just standing around,” said Vers, and strode out onto the surface. “We have a mission, and there’s no time like the present! That traitor could be getting farther away by the second. And besides, I embrace adventure! Higher, further…” She seemed to forget what she was saying mid-sentence.

As the team spread out, they gave her both reassured and weirded out looks. 

“What was that you were saying?” questioned Yon-Rogg. Volcanic ash was settling like snow on his hair.

“Uh…” she held a hand to her head, suddenly looking very confused. “I dunno. I’m gonna go find the traitor, cool?”

He hesitantly turned away from her. “…Cool.”

She shot him a thumbs-up and ran off in a random direction. After vaulting several lava lakes, climbing several ash hills, and scaling several volcanoes, she stopped to take a break. “Whew!” she wiped her forehead. “I wonder how everyone else is doing.” She turned on the group chat comm channel. 

“Anything to report?” 

There was nothing but static. “Helloooo?” She waited.

“Has anyone found the traitor?”........ “Are you guys dead?”…… “Am I missing something awesome?”….. “Oh no! THE HELION’S ON FIRE!!”

After deciding that the comms really were well and truly busted, she lowered her wrist and peered out over X-27. “Guess a longer break couldn’t hurt.”

Meanwhile, Korath and Att-Lass were trekking over a volcanic plain.

“Ugh, I’m sweating buckets in this uniform,” complained Att-Lass, fanning himself.

“Perhaps if you had less hair, it wouldn’t be such a problem,” replied Korath, his eyes laser-focused on his tracking beacon.

“Hey, I don’t have THAT much hair,” retorted Att-Lass. “I don’t know how the girls do it.”

Korath remained quiet, his bald head shiny in the gross kind of way.

“How do you know when a moon has had enough to eat?” asked Att-Lass.

“Hm?” Korath barely seemed to register the question.

“When it’s full!” exclaimed Att-Lass. He waited for Korath’s reaction. There was nothing. Not even a peep.

“You never laugh,” he sighed.

Meanwhile, Minn-Erva was busily scouting out a hilly field of ashes. She climbed one hill and peeped over. When she saw nothing, she climbed the next one, and the cycle continued. After climbing the 42nd hill, she saw a vague silhouette on the horizon. 

“Gasp!” she gasped. She quickly and stealthily snuck all the way over to the bottom of the hill where the silhouette had been. Activating her beacon, she whispered into the comm, “I have a location on the target. About to engage.” Then she charged up the hill, leapt at the target, and yelled a battle cry. 

She hit a solid wall and fell back to the ground with an “oof!”

The solid wall turned out to be Bron-Char. He had just been standing there doing nothing. He turned around when he felt a light object run into him. “Oh, hey, lass! What might you be doing on the ground?”

Minn-Erva looked up at him in horror. “Bron-Char!! It was just _you?!_ I just alerted the whole team that the target was here! Now they’re going to come rushing in for nothing.” She buried her head in her hands.

“Ah, I was wondering why I wasn’t seeing that fellow around here,” he said, holding up his tracking system which displayed her beacon. “Don’t worry. This place has been jangling up my nerves as well. Ticking me off something fierce, too!”

Minn-Erva gave him a ‘don’t talk to me’ look. Then they waited on the hill for several hours.

By the time the whole team had gathered together, it was basically nightfall. Needless to say, most of them were not very happy about the false alarm. 

“Great! I just trekked a bajillion miles only to find that Bron-Char is the traitor,” grumbled Vers. 

“Wait, what?” asked Att-Lass. “He is?”

“No!” yelled Vers.

“Calm down, everyone,” interjected Yon-Rogg. “This situation isn’t ideal, but we’ll have to make do with what we’ve got. And right now, since we’re too far from the Helion and night is falling, we have to make camp.”

“What? Are you serious? Sleep on this lava rock?” Minn-Erva questioned.

“I don’t believe you are in a position to be making complaints,” Yon-Rogg answered, and she shut up. “I thought ahead for this, so since I was closest to the Helion I stopped by and grabbed our emergency rations and sleeping kits.” He dumped a pile of stuff on the ground.

“Wow, cool,” said Att-Lass.

Yon-Rogg took a breath in like he was about to exercise a lot of authority. “Okay, Bron-Char, you can set up the emergency perimeter. Korath, get out the food. Minn-Erva, build the fire. And Vers and Att-Lass, you can kill each other for the best sleeping bag.”

“All right!” said Vers and tackled Att-Lass before they even looked at the sleeping bags.

Minn-Erva sighed with annoyance. “Why am I always the one making the fire?”

“Come on now, it shouldn’t be _that_ hard,” Bron-Char consoled her. “And I do believe the Commander gives the fire duty to whoever is currently annoying him the most.”

“Urgh, just great,” she sulked. She arranged the firewood and it burst into flames without her even doing anything. 

“I can tell it’s gonna be a restless night,” commented Vers. She had pinned Att-Lass to the ground and was now just sitting on him.

“Yeah, especially with all this volcanic dirt stuck to my face,” he groaned.

“You can eat that, or this food,” said Korath, holding out a pack of ration bars and other freeze-dried Starforce food.

“Food?!” shouted Vers. She leapt up and snatched everything that Korath didn’t have an iron grip on. Then she dove into her sleeping bag and began snarfing it all down.

“I wasn’t hungry anyway,” sighed Minn-Erva. She crawled into the sleeping bag farthest from Vers’ and hugged her rifle close, like a stuffed animal.

Once the rest of the team ate, they all settled down.

Att-Lass left them with a parting thought: “Why did we build a fire if this whole planet is burning hot and there’s basically already a ton of night lights from the lava?”

Nobody answered, but Vers could pretty much hear Yon-Rogg smiling.

It had only been a few hours when a faint rustling noise startled Vers awake again. The distant sound of eruptions and bubbling lava had helped lull her back to sleep, but dreams kept waking her up, and she certainly didn’t want to bother Yon-Rogg in a predicament like this. Sitting up wearily, she looked around. The rest of the team was snoring relatively contentedly, though they all looked sweaty. Vers rubbed her eyes and scanned the area for the source of the rustling sound. After turning the final 360th degree, she caught a blur of movement off in the distance. It traveled a short way, stopped, and kept moving. It seemed to be getting farther away. 

Looking around, Vers made a split-second decision. She jumped up from her sleeping bag, activated her beacon, and ran after the figure.

Ten minutes of running later, she had lost sight of it. She now found herself in an open field with many holes busted through it from lava geysers. Several meters to her left, there was just a cliff that fell into a lava lake. She walked around, scanning the surroundings. 

“Ugh, maybe this was a dumb idea, and I was just seeing things,” she groaned, stretching her arms. 

Suddenly someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. Alarmed, Vers immediately punched them. And who do you think fell to the ground, but the Kree traitor?

“A-HA!” she shouted, pointing at the guy. “I knew you were here! In fact, I was just musing about how I was close to your trail!”

He slowly started getting up. “Look, you don’t understand. None of you do. You’re just brainwashed soldiers working for a power-hungry tyrant trying to control the galaxy.”

Vers snorted. “Don’t give me all that sappy traitor talk! It won’t work on me.” She lit her fists up menacingly. “Now, I can bring you in warm…or I can bring you in cold.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blob of shiny green figures on the horizon. Help was on the way.

However, the millisecond she looked toward her team, the traitor pulled his blaster and fired. She just managed to swerve out of the way, but he followed it up by tackling her. And so, her training was put to good use as she fought with the random Kree guy. As they traded punches she noticed her team picking up speed. 

“You’re not so bad in combat,” said the traitor as she threw him to the ground. He bounced back up before she could pin him though.

“I was taught by the best,” she said smugly, and stuck her tongue out before continuing to throw punches.

“Well ‘the best’ must not teach you any manners,” he commented as he both blocked and got hit.

Vers gasped. “Take that back, you little--” She unleashed a bolt of energy from her fist. It smacked the guy right in the chest and he went flying…over the cliff.

Vers froze. "Oop."  
She looked at her fists and gradually reeled her power back in. Then she ran to the cliff’s edge and peered over. 

The guy was still falling. But what could she do about it? As she mulled the problem over, she didn’t notice the guy turn over in the air and fire his blaster. It struck the cliff right under her feet and it splintered. As Vers lost her balance, she heard Yon-Rogg shout her name. Her team wasn’t close enough to help, however. The cliff crumbled underneath her and she plummeted toward the lava lake. 

As the Starforce team was running, they saw everything unfold in the distance. They saw the Kree traitor ambush Vers, Vers fight back, Vers blast him over the cliff, and finally, Vers fall off the cliff herself. When it happened, they ran just about as fast as they could, with Yon-Rogg in the lead. However, a minute passed after she fell, and when a cloud of ash rose from the pit, he faltered and eventually stopped, just a few meters from the cliff. Silence reigned as he dropped to his knees.

Everyone realized the gravity of the situation. Bron-Char put a hand over his heart. Korath looked _slightly_ less emotionless. Att-Lass wiped his eyes hurriedly. And Minn-Erva didn’t know WHAT to feel.

After at least two minutes of silence, Att-Lass tentatively stepped forward to where his Commander hadn’t even moved. “Commander…”

“Don’t talk to me,” he responded.

The team traded glances, all looking equally mortified. Not just about Vers, but about Yon-Rogg’s condition and how long they might be standing there. They didn’t seem to notice a faint noise growing in the distance, a little like yelling. A minute passed and the sound grew louder and louder. 

At length, Yon-Rogg said, “I never even got to te--”

He was cut off by a loud explosion from the bottom of the cliff, coupled with a bright flash of light. The whole team looked up to see a lava geyser come shooting up from the lava lake, and on top of it was a floating chunk of rubble. On top of that rubble, screaming her lungs off, was…

“VERS!” they shouted. 

They took off toward the cliff. Yon-Rogg got there first and shouted, “Hang on, Vers!” He activated his antigravity gauntlets and managed to yank her off of the quickly-decomposing rubble heap. He levitated her over to solid ground and deactivated his gauntlets, catching her as she dropped. 

“Ow!” she cried. She was about a million degrees to the touch. It didn’t stop Yon-Rogg from giving her a bone-crushing squeeze, though.

“Don’t DO that to me-- I mean us-- ever again,” he chided, though the relief was palpable in his voice.

“I can’t make any promises,” she laughed, groaning at the same time.

Minn-Erva tried to cut between them. “Excuse me, Commander, but I believe Vers needs medical attention.”

“Oh! Yes. Right!” He all but shoved Vers at Minn-Erva. “You’re the medic! Take care of her.”

“Copy that,” she mumbled as she lowered Vers to the ground.

Vers tried to wave off her hands. “I’m fine, thank you for asking.” At the same time she groaned loudly in pain.

Minn-Erva took one look at Vers’ arm and said, “It got you good.”

“What?!” she exclaimed.

“The lava,” Minn-Erva clarified. “Your arm is scorched, and—OH MY INTELLIGENCE, IT’S RISING!!”

Everyone flinched, and Att-Lass began freaking out. Bron-Char had to console him.

“WHAT?! WHAT’S RISING?!” Vers yelled. She had her eyes shut tight.

“Relax, it’s not so bad,” Minn-Erva said, trying to pacify everyone. “I overreacted.”

“Ha,” said Vers.

“But there is a malicious wart rising here on your forearm and it needs to be precisely removed right away to prevent infection.”

“Ohhhh….” Vers groaned, looking sick.

“Does anyone have a sharp metal object?” asked Minn-Erva, looking around.

Everyone checked their pockets rapidly. Yon-Rogg stilled for a moment, before pulling out his knife.

“That’ll do,” said Minn-Erva.

Yon-Rogg scooted over. “Allow me.”

“What? Why?” she asked.

“Because I don’t trust you with my knife,” he answered.

As he went to work on Vers’ arm, Minn-Erva rolled her eyes, and Vers smiled obnoxiously despite her predicament. As soon as the wart was off, she sat right up and smiled brightly.

“That worked a treat!” she exclaimed.

Yon-Rogg settled back to give her space, and for a minute all was calm.

“So she’s not gonna die?” asked Att-Lass timidly.

Minn-Erva swatted his arm. “No.”   
Then she added under her breath, “…unfortunately.”

“Oh,” responded Att-Lass, not hearing the last part. “Good.”

Vers looked around at all of them. “Well I don’t know why we’re just sitting around! The mission’s over, let’s go home already!”

That jostled them back to reality. Vers jumped to her feet and they all began the trek back to the Helion. Not much was said, except for trivial small talk about the happenings on Everybody Loves Ronan.

On the flight back to Hala, Vers cozied up in the living room. Yon-Rogg had ordered her to get some rest, so she took full advantage of it by changing out of her uniform, making coffee, and settling down with some memes while wrapped in a blanket. 

She had only just begun chuckling when Yon-Rogg walked in from the kitchen. “I see you made coffee,” he said.

“Yep,” she replied. Then she sipped her mug, and made loud slurping sounds as she did so. When she noticed the disapproving look he was giving her, she said, “Sorry. It’s piping hot.”

He chuckled and sat down next to her. “…So I suppose we should address the issue in the room.”

“You mean the elephant,” she corrected.

“What?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Never mind,” she waved it off. “What is it?”

“The Kree traitor is dead.”

“Oh, yeah,” she scratched her head. “He is.”

“And you murdered him without a substantial reason,” Yon-Rogg continued.

“I didn’t murder him!” she defended. “He died of natural causes.”

“You blasted him off a cliff.”

“Gravity is natural!”

He gave her a look. She smiled back, but after a few seconds it faltered. “Okay, so maybe this one’s on me. I lost control right when I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. He was sorta dissing you and I couldn’t let him get away with it.”

His eyebrows shot up. After contemplating her words, he said, “Well…I’m sure he deserved it.”

Vers looked up in surprise. “What? That’s so unlike you to say. You usually don’t care much what people think of you.”

“I’m not saying he deserved it because of what he said, I’m saying I trust your judgment and that you gave him what he deserved.”

She glanced around the room casually. “Oh, okay, hehe. Because I totally meant to shoot him in the first place!”

He purposefully didn’t look at her, but he did steal her coffee mug and take a sip from it. 

“You like this way too sweet,” he cringed, and continued to drink it.

“And you like yours way too black,” she returned, grabbing the mug back.

Just then Minn-Erva and Att-Lass walked in, apparently engaged in an important discussion.

“Well, Vers is alive, but the greater mission was a failure thanks to her,” said Minn-Erva.

“Shush!” said Att-Lass. “You’re sounding like Ronan.”

“Yes, and a life is always more important than a mission,” put in Yon-Rogg.

“Wait, it is?” asked Att-Lass.

Vers rolled her eyes and sat back against the wall. “So we’re just gonna remember the mission to X-27 as the one I botched, and not the one where I barely heroically survived?”

Korath walked in. “Yep.”

Vers threw up her hands. “Whatever. I’ll probably still look back on it fondly.”

“That’s good, lass,” said Bron-Char, walking in from the cockpit. “Bouncing back is a sign of not being traumatized.”

“Hey…” said Vers. “If we’re all in here, who’s flying the ship?”

Korath tilted his head. “Oh poop,” he said as the ship went into a nosedive.

THE END!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And as they nosedived, Vers' coffee floated into the air and splashed Att-Lass. :)  
> (I'm fairly sure that almost every time someone has had liquid in a cup, it's ended up somewhere else.)
> 
> On a different note, this story got written faster than I thought it would. It's also by far my longest one-shot ever, clocking in at juuust under 4000 words. O_o I have nothing else to say, except:  
> 1\. This story is largely based on something that happened in a previous story, 'Knife'  
> 2\. In order to make this story feel almost canon, I recommend watching the deleted scene 'Heading to Torfa' immediately after reading.
> 
> That's all for now!  
> ~ MCU_Forever


End file.
